Bleach: The Court of Eternity
by Nanashi The Silver Fox
Summary: Shinigami and Hollows aren't the only creatures that exist after death! Enter the world of the Judges of Eternity, and the boy who became one under unfortunate circumstances, Hitonari Jirai!
1. The Worst Luck

**Bleach: Court of Eternity**

_Chapter 1: The Worst Luck_

"Tell me anything special about you. Anything at all that sets you apart from your classmates, basically." A rather high pitched and jolly sounding voice rose out through the dusty air in a Japanese High School Classroom. Kanazawa High, to be precise, where many delinquents and failing students roamed. The man who had just assigned this, a small pudgy teacher by the name of Nunari-sensei, smiled brightly and looked around the wide classroom.

Nunari-sensei was an interesting teacher. He was easy to make fun of because of his 'larger than life' appearance and his high voice. Commonly called Pilsbury Doughboy by anyone in his English class that knew the American reference. Everyone in his classes took any and every opportunity that came their way to make fun of or sneakily play a prank on the poor man, yet he just kept on teaching as though he never noticed, usually because he never caught the culprits. And sure enough, all of the students in Nunari-sensei's class held straws and wet paper beneath their desks, their eyes all locked onto the pudgy man's neck (which was the only bit of skin showing on him while he was turned around considering he wore a black suit and white gloves) as he re-copied the assignment from his planning book onto the blackboard.

Well, almost all of the students. One boy of around 15 years of age was not so eager to prank his teacher, and held no items to do so with anyway. 'Damn, I can't think of anything that 'sets me apart' from everyone else here."' Hitonari Jirai, the only boy not thinking of pranking his teacher, mentally remarked, looking out the window.

Hitonari, commonly called Hito by his kinder teachers and acquaintances, had red hair and rather pretty green eyes. Though his hair wasn't long or even in a girlish fashion he was regarded as a sissy because of it being red. His eye color didn't help much either. But aside from that, Hito wasn't unusual in any way he could think of.

'Maybe I should just forget about trying to get into a University, I never really felt all that smart anyway."' Hito thought to himself, remembering that, even though he was only a freshman and only seven weeks into the school year, he was still flunking every one of his classes. 'I guess I'm just not cut out to be a scholar."' The boy thought with a sigh. SPLACK.

"AIEEEE!" Hito felt something whiz by his right ear and leave a bit of moisture on his cheek, then heard an odd sound like Jell-O falling and touching the ground, and finally Nunari-sensei, who had just done the screeching. The boy looked up in question and Nunari-sensei turned around at the same time, taking the white spitball from his neck and glaring at the class in disgust. Everyone of the class except, of course, Hito, was now writing obediently and had put away any sign of Spitballing.

'No one seems to have tossed it, oh well; at least it didn't hit me full on."' Hito thought, wiping a bit of spit from his cheek. The red haired boy was about to turn back to his work with genuine obedience, but Nunari-sensei, who had been observing the class for signs of the trouble maker who fired the spit ball, yelled out in anger at him.

"Hitonari Jirai!" The black haired English teacher waddled over to Hito's desk as Hito blinked in surprise. "DID-YOU-THROW-THIS?!" Nunari-sensei asked, his hand squeezing the spit ball, which began to make odd noises as moisture was wrangled out of it. (Disgusting, eh?).

Hito looked at the object and felt like he was about to puke as Nunari-sensei squeezed it without noticing he was. "Um, sir? I don't even have-" Hito began, but Nunari-sensei cut the boy off.

"Don't talk back to me, spitballer!" Nunari-sensei said. Hito cowered down in his seat. "I think this deserves a detention!" he declared in his high pitched voice. Several students, probably the ones who had committed the heinous act, sniggered and stuck their tongues out at Hito. Hito sighed and watched as Nunari-sensei scribbled down the time of his detention on a slip of paper and handed it to Hito.

Hito looked at the sheet of paper and saw that it was an afternoon detention. This meant he'd be stuck walking home, as the bus he usually took didn't swing by again until around seven after its stop at four to the school. "Nunari-sensei, please!" Hito began to ask, but Nunari-sensei's voice rose out loudly drowning his own.

"Now everybody that can control inappropriate urges please continue with your studies, Hito, you may take the desk in the back!" Nunari-sensei declared, he glowered at Hito as the boy took his books from his previous sitting place and walked slowly over to the back desk.

He sighed and looked at the detention note one last time. 'Looks like I do have a talent after all…a talent for the worst luck!"' Hito thought, opening his notebook and miserably writing about how his luck was far worst than anyone else's in the entire world.

* * *

The rest of the school day was close to uneventful. Hito was geared up and ready to grit his teeth out during his detention when Nunari-sensei received an urgent call that inconvenienced him to say the least. So when he told Hito the detention would be postponed the red haired boy felt a bit lighter. 

'Maybe he won't be so mad by tomorrow."' Hito thought to himself. He knew it was unlikely, but it didn't diminish his hopes to know its low chances.

Hito's walk home was also uneventful by normal standards. He didn't take the bus that day, thinking that it'd be good to get into the fresh air. 'Ah, the day is so nice! I should walk home everyday…I might have to start…."' Hito thought, his head first raising to smell the sweet flowery smell of the last of summer, then looking away and towards the ground as he remembered. "My dad and his stupid girlfriend." He said aloud, kicking a soda can that was lying on the side of the road he walked. He grunted other things about how his dad was never home, and when he was he went on and on about his stupid girlfriend or told him constantly how his mother wouldn't have liked to see his report cards.

"So what? I make bad grades, does that make me stupid?!" Hito asked himself, angry at an invisible person. He stopped kicking the can and looked up from the street to see a shabby, rundown building. His house. His and his father's house. His mother's earthly home.

The place was painted black and happened to be an old World Deli, as in it served delicacies from everywhere around the world. His father, being a real estate agent, fixed up the place and made it kind of homey, there were two bedrooms inside, though one was still being built, a pretty decent living area with a table. The television and radio sat on this side table. The best place though was the kitchen. Beautifully put together with six cabinets for pots, pans, cups, plates, bowls, and pretty much any other kitchen utensil. A special built in fridge (as in built into the floor, underground) that was seven meters squared. There were ten sinks, five with two washing areas to be technical, but they each ran water superbly. The oven was incredible, literally spewing fire. Yes, literally.

Hito had walked into his house, sniffed the air, wondering about that odd smell. He had then placed his backpack boredly on the floor in his room. Once again he sniffed the air. He had then taken off his school blazer, hung it up, sniffed the air in question as he walked from his room, through the living room, and into the kitchen. He looked at the flame spewing, but still shut oven, and nodded as though the smell should have been obvious. Opening the fridge he took out some sandwich meat, went to the cabinet to grab the Soy sauce, opened the fridge and grabbed some pre prepared rice….and dropped the glass bottled Soy Sauce.

"HOLY CRAP!" Hito yelled in shock as he realized the oven was on fire. He opened the large door attached to its front and reached in stupidly, pulling his hand back in pain as he touched burning hot metal. "CRAP! That hurt!" Hito yelled to no one in particular as he turned on two sink sockets, placing his hand under one and a bowl under another. It was then that he noticed his sleeve had come in contact with some of the flames spilling over from the oven doors. "AH!" He yelled and placed his hand in the water on the second sink. Unfortunately, he had turned both sinks on with his left hand, including one to his right, which effectively meant he turned the first one on cold water as that was closest knob to himself, and the closest knob on the second sink (the one to the right) on as well, only the second sink's closest knob happened to be water that was-"HOT!" Hito yelled in pain as his already flame singed hand met painfully with hot water that he had to pull back from as well.

In this moment the flames had sparked up his entire sleeve and finally engulfed the front of his shirt in red and orange flames. Hito managed to take off his shirt and toss it into the cold water sink and place his hand in that sink at the same time. After about three second he grabbed the bowl he'd filled with water and tossed it into the over with a great sizzling sound as the oven fire blinked out.

"HIII-TO, I'M HO-What's that smell?!" a voice rose from the front door. The voice was kind of raspy, but knowing all the same. Hito turned off the stove, breathing incredibly hard, and trudged from the kitchen .

"Dad…What-the-hell-did-you-try-to-COOK?!" Hito yelled at the man, his father, in the doorway. His father frowned and looked up as though trying to remember. Then he snapped his fingers.

"Oh! I thought you might like this interesting Italian recipe I ran across, it's called 'Lasagna'! Did you like it?!" the man asked. He had blond hair that went almost to his neck all around his head. Tall and with a lean, slightly muscular look, he looked nothing like Hito.

Hito began to twitch as though uncontrollable. "I-didn't-get-to-try-it!" He twitched out. His father frowned and set down his briefcase.

"Well, all for the best, but I wish you hadn't reheated it, you know you always burn things in the microwave." His father murmured. Hito face fell.

"Are you by any chance mentally retarded?! I didn't get to try it because it nearly burned down our house!" Hito yelled into his father's face, spit flying crazily and his father sweat dropping. "How many times now have you tried to replicate this places stupid recipes and failed! Come on dad, next time I might not survive!" Hito half pleaded on the last statement, but he seemed to be calmer and his father noticed it by the time he finished.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay kiddo. I'll tell you what, instead of lasagna, how about we just grab some Kobei Beef." His father asked. Hito's anger faded immediately, his eyes lighting up as this was his favorite treat, though quite expensive. His father continued. "Tomorrow morning…" Hito face fell once again. He stood up to see his father's retreating back. "I've just got way to much work tonight, but there's still plenty of other stuff you can eat!" the man yelled the last part and it echoed slightly in the hallway as he reached the end, opened and closed the door to his room. Hito looked down, a sigh escaping his body before he went back into the kitchen to clean up.

* * *

The darkness encompassing the city that night came swift. It was almost as though it was called down to shadow the earth around the city of Kanazawa. As it was blanketing the town it seemed as though something moved through the darkness. With incredible speed the object, which started at a phone pole, bounced down and maneuvered itself through the street via the cars on the side of it. Whenever it impacted on a hood or trunk of a car the car was dented with the force of the object. It was large. 

"Damnit, not again!" a voice, scared and uncertain, suddenly broke through the night. It seemed, though no one was there to truly tell, that it wasn't really there as others from earlier had been. Instead it seemed to belong in another world more so than this one. As the heavy object neared breathing was also heard, hard, rough, scared breathing. "What do you WANT from me!" then, the voice was revealed. It was a stocky boy who looked about 14 or 15. His eyes were shaking as he looked at the space in front of him.

"I…." there was a murmuring as the shadowed object moved closer to the boy. The boy, who moved completely out of the shadows and was revealed to have a broken chain on his chest and carrying a baseball bat.

"Doesn't really matter," the boy was suddenly smiling, a bit of the fear had left his voice. "cause this time I'm going to cause YOU pain!" That signaled the charge. The boy raised his bat, yelled and dived in at the shadows. Whether it was because the boy had never truly seen his opponent, because he was abandoning his foolish attempt at defeating his opponent, or because he was just that stupid, the boy charged in and was in striking range when a car, lights ablaze, roared near them and illuminated the beast.

The creature was revealed in all and any of its glory. Its body was tall and slender with long arms and long legs. It held a hole in its chest and its body, save for its right shoulder which seemed to be leaking some black liquid slowly, was bright white. And then there was its head. Its face shielded from the light by a white skeletal mask that only its glowing yellow eyes pierced. "Want…" the creature began to continue.

The boy backed up as the car passed right through him, and, through some insanely lucky coincidence, the long and spread legs of the creature saving it from a crash. After it roared off into the distance and the Hollow was masked in shadows again the boy decided to snap out of his shock. "NO!" he yelled in a voice filled with defiance. Then, like a bug crawling from its superior murderer, turned around and rushed into the darkness ahead.

"To…." The creature behind him sounded slightly worn as it continued its sentence, though it let the boy continue running without movement. Then, after about a minute of the boy dashing away, the creature bent at its knees, opened its mouth (which was lined with crooked yellowing and occasionally white teeth) and leapt straight at the boy running away. As a last stand, perhaps, the boy turned and raised the bat, but was being torn apart by the teeth of the beast before he could bring it down.

After a few moments the boy had dispersed into wisps of white, no longer of this realm at all. Then, the creature that had caused his dispersal revolted, retching and coughing its teeth were stained with black as it seemed to regurgitate the same black liquid on its arm. It kept its head bowed for a moment, as though staring at its regurgitation, then its mouth moved a bit, and he finished his sentence. "….Die." with that, the beast's glowing eyes, the only part distinguishing its form from the dark, seemed to fade into the darkness as well.

* * *

The next day was reasonably normal. For Hito, at least. He'd managed to get up and get out to the bus on time. His father had been unable to recall making a promise of Kobei beef that morning or at all for that matter, and knew no where to get it even if he did. However, Hito managed to have a bit of something for breakfast, 'Egg Soup' which was eggs and tomato soup sloppily thrown together. After catching the bus and getting to school he decided to talk to Nunari-sensei and try and reschedule the detention (the sky looked like it would burst with rain and he didn't want to walk home in rain).

"Nunari-sensei?" Hito asked, entering the open door to his teacher's room. 'Wonder if he even gets in this early."' Hito thought aloud, looking around at the oddly decorated room full of posters saying things in English and Japanese.

"Come to shoot another spitball?!" A voice from behind him asked, making him jump about ten feet in the air.

"AH! Nunari-sensei I'm sor-" Hito turned around, his mind going into over apologetic mode before he even registered that it wasn't his teacher but another person standing behind him. The person was a boy of about the same age with blond hair and grey eyes which were amused at the moment, and wearing the same black school uniform.

"MAN! You should have seen the look on your face, Jirai!" the boy was overcome by the giggles as Hito glared with a twitch developing in his right eye.

"What the hell Shiroji!" Hito glared at the boy, who was apparently Shiroji. Shiroji was about four inches taller than Hito (who stood at 5'7").

"Sorry Hito, you're just too easy!" Shiroji said. He then stopped snickering and wiped a tear from his eye before frowning at his classmate. "Hey, why are _you_ here?" he looked suspiciously at the red haired boy but Hito just shrugged.

"Trying to get a date change on my detention, which, I take it you've heard about." He said. Shiroji brushed a hand through his hair with a smile coming back to his lips.

"Oh yeah, I've heard about it." He smirked. Hito rolled his eyes. "Since you're so curious," Shiroji began, looking at Hito with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'm here to return Nunari-sensei's pocket book, but, while I'm here…." He leaned in and Hito leaned back.

"What, you want to make out…Cause I'm not-" Hito began, but a smack upside the head silenced his rather humorous statement.

"Don't be such a goofball, I wanted to ask if you're interested in joining the Akais!" Shiroji finished. Hito frowned. This was the fourth or fifth time he'd been asked to join a gang and he had no idea why.

After all, of his physical resume nothing was that impressive. He'd actually flunked a gym class once when he was about 12. But the Akais weren't really a specialized gang; maybe they just needed more people to take bullets.

"Why do you always ask me to join a gang? I prefer to live, thank you!" Hito said. Shiroji's eyes narrowed, but he shrugged and walked toward the blackboard.

"Well, just need new recruits, and I figure you don't do anything but eat and sleep so you have plenty of room in you-" Suddenly his rather hardened face broke into a smile as he looked at something behind Hito. "Hello Nunari-sensei!" he greeted. Hito's eyes went wide and he turned around in time to feel an eraser meet the back of his head.

"Oh come on!" Hito turned around to see Shiroji snickering. "That is the oldest trick in the book, how cou-" Hito began, but was cut off by Shiroji.

"How could YOU fall for it then?!" the taller boy questioned. Hito twitched just as the bell rang signalling the beginning of classes. Hito sighed and adjusted his back pack. "Well, guess I'll be seeing you around Jirai!" Shiroji said, patting Hito once on the back and then retreating out the door. Hito looked at his watch, wondering if he could make it to class if he waited for Nunari-sensei. He decided not to chance it and just talk with Nunari-sensei later in the day. With a last look around the room he adjusted his pack again and left.

* * *

The rain started at about 2:00 in the afternoon, Hito had only been in Nunari-sensei's class ten minutes when he saw it dropping down in huge amounts. 'I hate my life."' Hito thought to himself. Nunari-sensei, unfortunately for Hito, had shown up to class long enough to give them their work and then he was called off via Intercom to a conference. 'What kind of school has a conference in the middle of class anyway?!"' he asked himself silently, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to focus on learning another language.

2:40 was when Hito left Nunari-sensei's class, his teacher had failed to reappear and by 3:40 he was grudgingly dragging himself up to his English teacher's classroom to serve detention. When he entered he averted his eyes so he didn't have to look at the storm he would be facing only an hour from now and looked at the board. It was lucky he had as Nunari-sensei was gone once more and his instructions for the detention were on the board. 'This looks pleasant'". Hito's inner monologuing continued as he looked at the assignment to scrape gum from the bottom of desks using the tool in the left drawer of his teacher's desk. 'Better get started'".

With a sigh he removed Nunari-sensei's given tool and walked to the first desk from the left.

The detention itself wasn't so horrible. Hito had actually finished getting gum from under all the desks and was quite surprised by how fast the time seemed to go. After he'd washed and put the tool Nunari-sensei had left back he left the school, but not its grounds.

"Damn, talk about maximum suckage." Hito sighed and looked at the rain. He decided he'd just wait outside the school until about ten minutes before the charter bus came back, then run to the stop and catch it home instead of walking so far. As he walked around beneath the overhang he could see the rain was getting thicker.

'Maybe I should just walk home…"' he began to think to himself. He debated with himself which option would get him more wet again. By the way the rain was looking, he should, but then again….BLAM! Hito jumped as he heard the crackle and bang of lightning. He gulped and looked out under the overhang to look for it. Another strike came a few moments later and by what he could tell between counting and his view, it was no more than five or six miles off. He didn't want to walk anywhere with lightning near him, and by the time he could start walking to the bus stop it was sure to be near him. 'I have to go all the way home…"' Hito thought to himself. He looked up at the sky, his face now wet from hanging out beneath the overhang and sighed.

Placing his backpack over his head and taking a deep breath, he dashed out from underneath the school's overhang and began to run in the direction of his house. The lightning took another flash. Only this time, it was close enough to illuminate the area around Hito a bit, and, if he had been looking behind him, Hito may have seen the eerily decorated and colored mask of a creature that couldn't possibly exist…

* * *

"He's there." A voice spoke through the rain. It was soft, yet strong and defiant.

"Glad you could find him, unfortunately, it seems he's locked onto a live one." Another voice replied. This voice was gentle and yet even stronger than the first. It seemed to be older than the first as well.

"Poor guy, but there's no way even we could get there fast enough to…" the first voice spoke again, then, seeming to think it was pointless, quieted itself.

"We can't save him, but we can negate the pain that would follow him into the afterlife." The second voice replied again. The owner of the first voice seemed to ponder this statement. Then, the streetlights came on and it was revealed to anyone who could see that they stood on the abandoned street the boy with the bat perished to the beast on. The owner of the first voice was still partially shadowed, as was the second voice's owner, though one could see they both had on black robes with ornate designs.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" the first voice asked. The street lamp that illuminated them broke, and one could get the feeling that they no longer remained on the darkened street.

* * *

Hito stopped only a while after leaving the school. For some reason it felt as though the air was too thick, he could hardly move with the pressure of…the storm maybe? He didn't know, all he knew was that it was hard to do anything for this incredibly odd pressure. He was on the side of the road he had to take to get home, but the road itself was vacant. 'Damn, what's with this storm, it's like I can't breath through it, like it's closing around me….like I'm…about to die!"' Hito thought.

The red haired boy struggled and managed to take two deep breaths. "I-I got to turn back!" he said to no one. He turned around and was about to start running again, when he felt a sudden pain in his chest. No, more than pain: agony. Utter and total agony as though his very Soul was being ripped from his body.

It seemed to last an eternity, but, when he finally managed to breathe…It was even harder! Hito coughed and reached up to grab his throat, but something metallic feeling stopped him. A chain. A smooth and shiny silvery which came from…Him? "What the-AGH!" Hito began to question his situation, but his body-if it was his body- was thrown several feet away by something he didn't see. He looked over to see what it was that threw him and blinked in amazement as his brain painted the picture. It was impossible, a shadow? Hito frowned and managed to stand up. He struggled to breathe but not as much as before.

"What's…going on?" He asked no one in particular. He breathed harder now, suddenly feeling that pressure again, and now it seemed as if the Shadow was…moving. "W-who's there?" Hito asked. He got his answer the worst possible way the lightning decided then to return. And when it blasted down from the heavens he saw the horribly crooked smile and mask that seemed to personify death. "No." he looked down at his body in that same instant, his eyes being drawn then to the chain of fate and finally the lightning faded as he put it partially together. "I'm de-AGH!" Hito began to declare his own death but was thrown back from the beast's long arms punching him.

"Die…" the beast murmured. Hito stood up and saw the fist coming again. One thought was running through his mind and that was not to die. Not to listen to this beast.

"Sorry, not in my plans!" Hito retorted, he lunged beneath the swinging hand which seemed as if it held his death sentence and lay on top of his body. He was bleeding. His eyes went wide and he blinked at the mass of flesh and bone (and the occasional organ). "You've killed me?" He looked up at the beast before him again and saw that it was charging. 'I'm already dead, it's already killed me, what's going on, is this my soul?!"' Hito asked himself all these questions as he looked at the beast which would seal his fate. 'No, I can't be dead, I've go to get out of here before I AM though!"' with a renewed will, Hito dived out of the beasts way and let it land on top of his body.

"DIE!" The beast exclaimed, it turned fully around and its eyes glowed. The lightning flashed again and Hito, who had just regained his breath from that simple movement, gulped. The beast was now, instead of white, black with odd green markings glowing on its black skin. It's teeth were a yellow that smelled of death and Hito felt an incredible pain in his left arm as the beast charged. 'No!'" he thought. 'I can't….dad…die….not….yet….dad…."' . "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly, blood was everywhere. Hito felt the warmth as it washed over him. He opened his eyes which he'd shut due to the pain, and wondered how his body had been dismantled or dismembered. But it wasn't his blood. His eyes went wide as the full view of the scene hit him. Standing before him was a blue haired, black robed boy. He couldn't see his face but the beast that was crashing towards him was now screaming and the boy didn't seem to be scared.

"Man, talk about weak! This thing shouldn't even be considered a Hollow!" the blue haired boy smirked and held out his right hand, which Hito noticed was holding a long chain of pure black color with a spike at the end.

"Who-" Hito began, but a hand on his shoulder and a voice silenced him.

"Don't worry, you'll be safe now. We're friends. Friends of the fallen souls who-ARGH!" the hand on his shoulder had been connected to a man with blond hair and shimmering green eyes. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten to introduce himself before a chain had whipped itself around to smack him full in the face.

"Don't go around trying to be liked by ordinary souls, idiot. You're just here to watch me perform on this guy!" the blue haired boy declared. The blond man was rolling around in the dirt yelling about more pain than the hottest side of hell being on his face. Hito sweat dropped as he looked at the blue haired boy, who only twitched in annoyance before pounding the blond with the whip again and again, signalling yells of pain.

"OW! Hattei, that hurts you know!" The blond man yelled. His long hair (which went to the middle of his back) seemed to stand straight up on end as though he were an angry cat.

"Well you should have been watching, Tsugemaru-_sama_!" the blue haired boy, apparently Hattei, yelled at the blond who seemed to be Tsugemaru. He emphasized the 'sama' suffix as though it were an insult instead of a notation of skill.

Tsugemaru stood up and tears welled in his eyes, making Hito frown. "How am I supposed to watch when you're so mean, whipping me and all!" Tsugemaru asked, putting his lip out in a pout. Hattei growled and squeezed his chain whip.

"You might want to start by JUST LOOKING!" Hattei yelled, he then brought the whip back again, but was stopped by…

"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!" Hito yelled. Both of the men looked at him and then each other. Tsugemaru cocked his head to the side and Hattei lowered his whip.

"Oh, well, if you really want to know…" Tsugemaru began. Hattei then frowned and turned around. The creature he'd cut down was moving and struggled to get up. Hito's face was polite as Tsugemaru smiled at him.

"We're agents sent here to kill that thing…" Tsugemaru explained, pointing to the beast. Hattei leapt straight at it as Hito cocked his head to one side.

"And who were you-" he began, but was cut off as the beast roared in pain. He looked up with Tsugemaru to see the creature's mask had been sliced in half, and it's head along with it. With a burst of light the beast began to fade away, and Hattei landed softly with practiced ease.

"We were sent," Tsugemaru began, grabbing Hito's attention again. "By the Court of Eternity." The creature made one last groan, a burst into a brighter light than anyone had seen so far that night.

_To be Continued_

**Next time: **Court of Eternity? Sounds like a bad horror movie! I don't know what the heck's going on here but I'm not liking it, what with Marks of Hollows (whatever those are), Judges of Eternity, and Shinigami (Death gods? You've got to be kidding me)! But if what these guys say is true then…I might not be able to see my dad again…But I will, because I know I can awaken this Shikiyou or whatever and earn the right to live again! Next time on Bleach: The Court of Eternity: _At Death's Door_

A/N: Well, my attempt at a Bleach fanfic. Not many spoilers will happen but eventually I'll get to where the real characters appear and that'll probably be after the Aizen ordeal. Please Read and Review, this chapter is rather long but they won't all be like this.


	2. At Death's Door

_Chapter 2: At Death's Door_

"The…Court of Eternity?!" Hito stared at the two men before him, one who had just finished wrapping up a black chain with a sharpened end, and the other who had goofily let himself be beaten by the younger and (from what Hito could tell) less experienced one.

"That's what I said!" Tsugemaru smiled happily. "Oh, and, well, you're dead too…." His smile faded as he tried to gauge Hito's reaction with no expression. Hito shrugged. "Oh, you're okay with it!" Tsugemaru smiled again, but was taken aback when Hito stood up, rushed over, and grabbed him by the collar with speed he hadn't been expecting.

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SMILING!" Hito yelled. Hattei sighed behind them and rolled his eyes. Tsugemaru's eyes went puppy dog as he looked at Hito.

"I'm sorry sir, I just thought-" he began, but didn't finish because of Hito.

"I'm DEAD! You couldn't have thought it was okay that I was DEAD because that's DEAD stupid you DEAD head!" Hito yelled, shaking Tsugemaru vigorously enough to make him foam at the mouth. "I don't know what kind of insane dream this is but I WANT TO WAKE UP!" Hito yelled again, louder and shaking Tsugemaru but more vigorously.

"That's not going to change things." The quiet voice of Hattei spoke behind Hito. Hito looked around (not noticing him dropping Tsugemaru like a stone) to Hattei with fury in his eyes.

"What do you mean?! Maybe I can wake up, maybe I can-" he stopped, choking back what he realized must be tears. "I-I can't go yet!" he spoke again after a moment. Hattei looked at the boy and closed his eyes.

"Too bad, you have to." He said easily. Hito clenched his fist and growled.

"I don't have to either!" he yelled. He dashed backwards towards his body and shook it. Then he squeezed it in a fashion that made it look like he was bear hugging himself. "Damn it, let me in!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"The Chain of Fate is broken." Tsugemaru stood up, his eyes no longer even slightly amused and no hint of a smile ever having been on his face. "For whatever reason, this Hollow targeted you…" Tsugemaru began, he looked incredibly pained because he had to say this. "It…killed you. But, worse than that…" He looked away.

Hito's eyes were covered by his hair. He felt the rain again. It must have stopped then started again. "What's worse than death?" he asked Tsugemaru, or perhaps even the Earth itself by how he was looking at it.

Hattei growled and then stomped over to him. Grabbing him by the arm (which Hito offered no resistance to) he pulled down the sleeve of his school uniform and showed him what looked like a tatoo which Hito hadn't had before. "THIS!" he yelled. Hito looked at it half heartedly before snatching his arm back. Hattei glared and then turned away. "Fine, don't listen to how your soul is going to be obliterated. Geez, usually people just face facts!" Hattei walked a few feet away and began to mumble about how stupid souls were.

"He's not really angry at you, he just wants you to realize…" Tsugemaru sighed and looked a Hito's arm. "Look,.-" Tsugemaru looked at Hito for a name.

"Hitonari. Hitonari Jirai. Any friends I have call me Hito though." The red haired boy spoke as though there wasn't a reason to, mechanically.

"Hito. Hito-san, what you have there on your arm," He pointed to the mark, which resembled a lopsided heart with no coloration (except the pinkish-red outline) and an 'X' across it. The 'X' seemed to be glowing a dark gray. "is the mark of the Hollow. It means soon your soul will be transformed into…well, that," he pointed to the area the Hollow had been in. "thing. Or something like it." Tsugemaru finished.

Hito still looked down, his eyes only flashed in one direction here and there occasionally as reaction to the talk.

Tsugemaru looked at the disconsolate red haired boy. "I truly am sorry, but I suppose that doesn't help in the least." He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a gavel with a pure black color and an odd symbol on it's front hammer end. "Well then, if you have no more will to remain." He placed the gavel near Hito's head, and then raised it at the same instant Hito shot up.

"What do you mean?!" Hito glared. Tsugemaru's now wide eyes blinked. "I have plenty of will to live, but if there isn't a way….Dad…." he looked away from Tsugemaru at the last part. Thoughts about how lonely his father would be were all that occupied his mind at the moment.

"So you have a reason to live?" Tsugemaru frowned in thought.

"It doesn't matter!" Hattei walked back over to join the duo with a glare in his eyes. "Save him the trouble of hoping he can survive, he's been infected, and by a Progressed Hollow at that!" Hattei yelled. Tsugemaru frowned, but didn't do or say anything else but put his hammer away.

"Hope?! What do you mean, if I'm dead how can I hope to live…You can't come back from the dead, can you?" Hito asked, his eyes wide with hope he himself didn't think he'd have.

"No, you CAN'T come back to life." Hattei said flatly. Tsugemaru cocked his head to the side and examined the mark on Hito's arm which began to glow a reddish color.

'Is that…?"' he thought. Then, biting his lips, he walked into the street. Hattei and Hito glared daggers at each other.

"Then why even make it sound like you can, you bastard?!" Hito stood up, fire burning his eyes. Hattei growled and glared as hard, if not harder, at Hito. "You made me think that I could live, be with my father when there isn't a way at all!" Hito yelled, getting angrier. Hattei's eyes narrowed.

"Shut up, if you'd have just let us Konso your ass then you wouldn't have-" he was cut off as Hito's voice rose out, though not in anger at all anymore.

"Konso?" he asked. Tsugemaru was still in the street, pondering. Hattei's right eye twitched and he looked to Hito.

"Yeah, Soul Burial. We'd have freed your soul from this world and cleansed it at the same time!" he glowered. "But you went on talking and then got yourself riled up. Now you want to take it out on me!" Hattei said, dangerously angry.

"You were planning on burying my soul?! I didn't even get to say goodbye!" Hito yelled, he rushed towards Hattei. Maybe Hattei thought Hito was going to do the same thing to him as he did to Tsugemaru, or maybe he was just too fed up with him at this point. Either way, Hito was almost within physical contact range when a leg swiftly leapt from its place on the ground and kicked him full in the stomach with enough force to knock him backwards about twenty feet. The red haired boy hit a telephone pole and it shuddered him to a stop. "AGH!" Hito uttered, his body now more than worn. Tsugemaru's eyes went wide. He was suddenly over at Hito's side.

"Hito, are you okay!" the blond man asked, concern evident on his face. Hito began to stand up shakily, a hand over his stomach where Hattei had kicked him. Hattei put his foot back to the ground without looking even slightly apologetic.

"I-I'm fine." Hito squeezed out. He stood up fully and looked at Hattei with a glare. Then he turned to Tsugemaru with a look of defiance. "Is there a way…A way I can live again?!" Hito asked him, seriousness etching out his features. Hattei rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in exasperation at the conversation.

Tsugemaru's light green eyes seemed to darken as he looked at Hito. "There is a way, but just one, and it wouldn't be so much coming back to life as embracing death more." He stated. Hito didn't flinch or blink.

"I'll do it. I can't leave my dad." The red haired boy stated simply. Hattei watched and seemed to be mildly interested as Tsugemaru sighed with what appeared to be weariness.

"If you're sure, after I tell you this, you won't have much of a choice." He said. Hito didn't waver. Tsugemaru sighed and stepped back. "Well, no point in staying out in this cold street," the taller man turned to Hattei. "do you mind opening a portal?" he asked the blue haired boy. Hattei shrugged and spun his spiked chain whip around, then abruptly stopped it, placed his right hand on the tip of the last chain link (where the blade was) and stabbed the foot long blade into the air before them.

Hito's eyes went wide as he saw the air before him swirl. It was a very odd thing to see as a long and dark road formed directly before them, completely different from the long dark road they were on at the present moment. "Wh-what the-" Hito began, but Tsugemaru cut him off.

"This is the way to the Court of Eternity: Hell's White Road. It leads to the place where you'll hopefully be able to return to the world of the living." Tsugemaru said. He placed a hand on Hito's shoulder and gently guided him towards the road. Hito gulped and then looked determined as he headed towards the road to the Court of Eternity. Hattei frowned as though mildly impressed by Hito's daring, then stepped in after him and Tsugemaru which made the rip in the dimension close. Hito's body remained lying in the rain, its face becoming pale.

* * *

Hito's eyes were wide with amazement after he stepped into the odd space distorting area. He blinked as he realized he was on the road he'd just seen. "H-hell's White Road?" he asked shakily, voicing one of the thousands of questions coming into his head. 

Tsugemaru looked at him with a small smile. "Yes. So deemed such because it leads into the 1st 'Level' of Hell, well, technically the Underworld." He stated plainly, as though discussing the weather.

"You guys gonna talk or are we going to get moving?!" Hattei asked, his violet eyes narrowed in annoyance. "We don't have all day you know, I'd like to get assigned to a division, seeing as how I definitely passed my test." He stated the last part with a smirk of overconfidence.

Hito rolled his eyes and turned to the taller, older man. "Tsugemaru-san, what exactly is the Court of Eternity? And what is a Hollow? What's ALL of this stuff you're talking about?!" Hito asked, his eyes were now bright with curiosity. Tsugemaru smiled to this and then they began to walk (after a swaggering Hattei).

"Well, really, it's easier to begin with the enemy. Hollows. Hollows are creatures that are created from the souls of normal humans after death. A Hollow is only created, however, when a soul is eaten by another Hollow, or their broken chain of fate disintegrates and leaves a hole in the center of their chest." Tsugemaru stated.

"What is this mark then, didn't you say it had something to do with them?" Hito questioned, trying to grasp as much information as he could before they arrived at their destination, as he had no idea when that would be.

"Ah, well, you see, most of the time Hollows hunt only beings, living or dead, with the highest of spiritual energies-Reiki. That is, the energy your soul creates and manages to maintain. The more Reiki they absorb, the more the pain of their fate, is eased." Tsugemaru continued. Then he bumped into Hattei, who had stopped suddenly. Hito blinked as Hattei turned around with his own curious look (though a harsher tone was on his features).

"What do you mean, Reiki, why don't you tell him about BOTH sides of the Soul?!" the blue haired boy growled to his apparent mentor. Tsugemaru sweat dropped and raised his hand defensively.

"Now, now Hattei-kun, don't be so hasty, I'll tell him about Shiki soon enough!" Tsugemaru stated nervously. Hito blinked, confused as to why the older and probably more experienced of the two was being pushed around all the time.

"Er, well, I guess…What's Shiki? And what does he mean BOTH sides of the soul?" Hito asked. The terms used seemed to ring a bell without explanation, but he was beginning to doubt whether his knowledge of the living world could apply the same in the world after death.

Tsugemaru cleared his throat, regaining his composure and Hattei rolled his eyes and walked forward again, signaling the other two guys to follow. "First off, with your initial questions: The Court of Eternity is the parallel to the Soul Society, per say." He began. Hito blinked and Tsugemaru must have realized he needed to explain more in depth.

"Soul Society itself is made up of many souls that have passed on after being cleansed either as a Hollow (minus), or a normal (plus) spirit. However, the governing force of the Soul Society is the Court of Pure Souls. This is where Shinigami preside over all the normal or 'good' spirits." Tsugemaru continued.

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me DEATH GODS exist?!" Hito questioned his eyes wide in disbelief. Although he could honestly say he felt they did, just from hearing about the monstrous Hollows and how he remembered the attack earlier that night that killed him made him ready to believe any nonsense these men were spouting off.

"Yes, and they are VERY powerful men and women. Men and women with incredibly large levels of Reiki harnessed over time or given to them from birth. Either way, they come together and ruled the souls of Soul Society many a millennia ago. And their three main jobs are: 1. To balance the amount of souls in this world and the next; 2. To destroy or, more precisely 'cleanse' all Hollows and; 3. To send normal spirits to Soul Society." Tsugemaru explained further.

"I always thought there was one Shinigami and he killed for fun or something…" Hito said, a bit of red coloring his cheeks from embarrassment. Hattei rolled his eyes again, making Hito snap his eyes up for a death glare. Tsugemaru cleared his throat and Hito turned back to him.

"Anyway, the Court of Eternity parallels some of these purposes. Our main purposes are 1. To balance the number of souls between the three divisions, that is Soul Society, Hell, and the Earthly realm 2. We help in the destruction of normal Hollows occasionally, but we mostly have to kill the 'Progressed' ones and 3. To destroy demonic creatures that find their way into the Human realm." The blond haired man ended another explanation. Hito blinked.

"Why would you want more souls in Hell, isn't it a bad place?" Hito asked.

"No, you idiot, the Underworld is the part of Hell we're discussing, it's where a number of all souls go, haven't you ever read Greek Mythology? You know how everybody went to the Underworld? That's basic- Ah screw it, Tsugemaru-_sama_ can explain it to you." Hattei stated all this easily and made Hito and Tsugemaru glare. Although Tsugemaru's smile returned a split second later and he opened his mouth to continue.

"Anyway, that's the purpose of the Courts, we belong to the Court of Eternity so, naturally, it was us who went after that 'Progressed Hollow'. Oh, and a Progressed Hollow is a Hollow that has a heart made of pure darkness because it has been dead and gone for so long all its 'Light' energy decayed. Or Hollows that have been hurt greatly before passing over and after passing over couldn't let go or cope with those feelings of pain." Tsugemaru said. He then looked at the red haired boy to his left side, seeming to focus on the slightly glowing mark on his arm. "They are the only ones who can use the Mark of the Hollow." He finished.

Hito looked at his arm, and then shut his eyes. "So eventually, I'll turn into…." Hito squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Tsugemaru. "What about the other side of the Soul?" the red haired boy asked.

Tsugemaru hesitated, then sighed and began to explain. "This is the confusing part. You see, there are 2 energies that make up the Soul, one of Light/Normality-Reiki, and one of Darkness/Oddity- Shiki. Usually the former energy is the one manipulated best without….the trial." Tsugemaru gulped. He then looked at Hito with utter seriousness. Hattei slowed his pace and turned to watch.

"W-what is it?!" Hito asked, getting unnerved by the looks of these odd people.

"Hito, you must understand, you can still be cleansed, you'll lose an arm because of the mark but it won't spread through your body for several more days. You can still abandon this dream of coming back to life and live as a Spirit in the Underworld or Soul Society!" Tsugemaru spoke with a quickness and nervousness. Hito got the feeling he was trying to rush him into saying 'I'll drop it'. Hito couldn't even consider letting his father live on his own, however, and it was evident in his face.

Closing his eyes and re opening them with a look of defiance glowing in their very depths, he opened his mouth to reply. "I can't do that. There's still someone…I'll do whatever it takes." He declared boldly. Tsugemaru closed his eyes and sighed.

"The Trial is a test of your Soul. Your very being, the thing that makes you, YOU! If you fail it, then you will be destroyed. But if you pass, then you'll be eligible to become a Judge of the Court of Eternity. A _Sanbankan no Kyuuen_." Tsugemaru stated. Hito blinked.

"Judge of Eternity eh, sounds like it might be f-" Hito began, a smile lighting up his face, but he was cut off as Hattei yelled something he didn't make out and turned to Hito and Tsugemaru to tell them they had arrived. Hito looked forward from Tsugemaru and his eyes went wide as he saw, directly in front of them, a large black gate with intricate symbols on it and one huge skull in the center. glowing a blood red. Suddenly, a pain hit him from his arm. "Agh!" he placed a hand on the Mark of the Hollow and Tsugemaru looked at him concerned.

"Are you-"

"He'll be fine." Hattei cut the older man off as the gate began to open. It was true (even though neither Hito nor Tsugemaru wanted it to be). Hito was able to walk again in only a few seconds. He moved forward through the opening gates and looked around. The area was that of any other city, only most of the houses were rather old fashioned. He also noticed the few people walking around (apparently it was late here too) were wearing black robes and pretty much nothing else.

"Well, I can't say much more," Tsugemaru began as the three of them moved completely into the area. "but: Welcome to the Court of Eternity!" Tsugemaru smiled pleasantly and looked at Hito, who stared blankly.

"Wow, what's with the old fashion look?" Hito questioned. Hattei rolled his eyes and raised a hand to point to somewhere in the distance.

"Come on you two, let's get to the Central Court before it gets any later; I want to be appointed to a division immediately as I utterly wasted that Hollow!" Hattei swelled up again with pride and, as a result, didn't notice his companions move along without him towards the direction he had been pointing. At least not immediately. "HEY! Where are you guys going so fast?!" Hattei asked after he realized he was standing alone on the street. He ran to catch up with them and, upon his arrival, saw that they were deep in conversation again.

"The trial, as it were, is very risky." Tsugemaru had started another explanation. "It forcibly breaks down your soul and reconfigures it with the ability to become a Judge of Eternity. Although you won't really realize that's what its doing, as your objective is to stay alive more-so than worry about what's happening to your soul." He made a small smile but Hito didn't return it. "Well, as soon as we get in we can take you to the trial room an-" he was cut off as Hattei yelled in protest.

"WHAT?! Are you saying you're not going to get clearance for this?!" Hattei asked with shock and anger in his voice. Tsugemaru blinked, looked up as though deep in thought, then placed a hand behind his head and laughed hysterically, earning him a punch from Hattei.

"OW! Hattei!" the blond man's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. "You didn't have to hit me!" he stated. Hito sweat dropped again and Hattei growled low in his throat. Tsugemaru then cleared his throat (and his tears) and stood up. "Honestly, no, I'm not going to receive clearance for this. Partially because it's too late and partially because, well…" he looked at Hattei knowingly and Hattei gulped, and then sighed.

"Fine, but I don't want to get into trouble for your mistake, so instead of letting you watch him alone I'll make sure myself his trial isn't walked in on." Hattei declared. Tsugemaru smiled happily and Hattei rolled his eyes. "Let's get going then." With that said, the three began to walk once more, heading for the eerie center of the Court of Eternity.

It had taken about an hour to get to the 'Central Court' as Hattei had called it. But when they arrived (after passing another gate which wasn't adorned with a symbol) the darkness seemed to have subsided and Hito could clearly see the area they were in didn't have any of the relaxed looking homes. Instead it was fitted with dozens of skyscrapers and larger, slightly more modern housing facilities. He also saw that there was a fountain spilling out a black liquid.

"Whoa, this place is huge, what did you call it again?!" Hito asked, taking in the full view. Hattei rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but Tsugemaru beat him to it.

"It's called the Central Court. You see, there are essentially 4 areas to the Court of Eternity. The Outer Court, which is where you enter and where we just came from," Tsugemaru started, he motioned behind him upon saying 'Outer Court'. "There's also the Central court, where we are now, this is where most everyone except Supreme Judges and High Judges sleep," he was about to continue but Hito broke in.

"Um, what in the world are Supreme Judges?!" Hito asked.

"There are three classes of judges, normal judges, just Judges of Eternity, High Judges, who assist the Supreme Judges and act as second in command on one of the 13 divisions, and the Supreme Judges, leaders of their division and together the whole of the High court, the next area Tsugemaru-sama would be explaining." Hattei declared easily. Hito nodded, and, for once, didn't glare or get angry at Hattei, Hattei didn't seem to be bothered by Hito for once either.

"Oh, thank you Hattei!" Tsugemaru smiled. He began to explain again as they steered into a large black and white building (the only white was the Japanese symbol for 'Eternity' on the top of the door in white) with several people walking around inside, despite the lateness of the hour.

"Anyway, the High Court has the sleeping and meeting quarters for High and Supreme Judges, and also some other areas I can't disclose. Finally, the Supreme Court is the area where special events take place and where the governors of the Underworld reside." Tsugemaru waved to some people who looked quizzically at him and his companions, but, for the most part, waved back.

"Oh." Hito said plainly, distracted by everything going on around him. He didn't even notice as he was lead through a maze of doorways and halls, too many to count. The area seemed to get less and less populated as they proceeded and, finally, both Hattei and Tsugemaru stopped. Hito almost bumped into the two and shook himself, then absorbed his surroundings.

The room the group had stopped in was a large one with black and red drapes covering windows (Hito thought they were covering windows, anyway). The main asset, however, was a pool filled with the same kind of black liquid as he'd seen the fountain spitting earlier. It was large and circular, but had no swimming equipment and Hito figured it must not be that deep as he looked around for even a ladder.

'Maybe it's just so they can soak their feet after a long day at work."' The red haired boy thought to himself. He surveyed the rest of the room and then his companions. Tsugemaru had taken on that seriously solemn look again and Hattei had an odd smirk on his face. Hito looked from one to the other, then, before he could question Tsugemaru stepped forward.

"Here's the trial Hito." He stated. Hito looked at the pool.

"Am I supposed to-" he began, but was cut off as Tsugemaru (moving with incredible speed) took out a talisman and slapped it onto Hito's chest, directly over the chain of fate. Hito felt an immense pain, and the chain broke into thousands of tiny pieces, then the thing it was attached to fell off. He didn't really feel himself being pushed as Tsugemaru placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him back into the pool, he only felt that incredible pain, a pain so familiar feeling, a pain that reminded him of, oddly enough, hunger.

"Good luck, Hitonari Jirai, may god be with you!" Tsugemaru said, his voice in eternal sadness as Hito fell into the dark abyss of the unknown. "Because no one else is."

_To Be Continued_

* * *

**Next time:** "This is SO not my day! I thought dying was bad, but facing this…whatever is even worse. Basically, I wake up to find myself face to face with an insanely creepy thing that says he's here to release my Shiki- if I can survive his insanely huge scythe-like…_thingy_ from slicing me in half. But I feel that I may have something, some kind of power inside me, and if it allows me to live, I'll find that power, and kick this guy's ass! Next time on**Bleach: The Court of Eternity: _Hell's Trial"_**

A/N: Ah, another chapter done. Once more, the length was more than expected but I suppose most people won't mind (just means it takes longer). Please review and don't be afraid to ask questions as I've plenty of stuff I can and (unless it'd ruin the story) will explain about the Court of Eternity or anything else, I'm not sure if I really got everything out there, but all the important stuff about the Court should have been said.. Oh, and a small note, I used "Shiki" as "Death Energy". I know that "Shi" in Japanese is death, and I was pretty sure that "Ki" means just energy, but I've also seen it translated as life energy, so I'll just clear up and say it's not "Death Life Energy" but merely Death Energy. I'm not an expert in Japanese, it's just a fun language to me (hence the reason I use "sensei" "san" and all that- and to make it sound more like it's actually taking place in Japan)… French, on the other hand… Ah forget it. Au revoir, be sure to review!


	3. Hell's Trial

_Chapter 3: Hell's Trial_

Darkness surrounded Hito. It was surrounding him so well it felt as though it were so deep a darkness it penetrated his very soul. '_Then again, if what those guys said is true, it might be penetrating my soul_."' The red haired boy thought to himself. He figured he was falling as there wasn't anything beneath him to stand on, but maybe he was floating. Either way, he sighed and began to ponder what had happened to the chain previously attached to his chest.

It was a rather sudden thing; Hito's arrival, that is. He was pondering whether or not the hole in his chest would be able to bleed or not when he felt his feet hit the ground. The boy blinked and looked around. He'd landed in a large black room. No decorations or curtains were used and there wasn't a speck of light to be seen. Hito got the feeling he'd just stepped into a coffin.

"Another for the taking…." A raspy voice broke out. Hito looked around in question, unsure as to where the voice had come from.

'_That voice…It sounded like it came from…"_' the red haired boy thought, his eyes began to scan the area as, from behind him, a huge shadowy figure erupted from the earth. '_Underground!"_' Hito finished his musings right as the shadow broke from the earth.

From what he could see, it was the same shape as a human, only it was magnified three times the size of any man Hito had ever seen. The large figure had a ragged black cloak which trailed out behind him, covering its true appearance. And, as though he needed to look more intimidating, the beast (for lack of a better word) held onto a scythe which was longer than a phone poll and had a blade larger than a car.

It took a while for Hito to register the full view of what he was seeing. Then it took him a while to realize he could see, then it took him still a moment longer to realize that large and powerful (well, scarier more so than powerful) looking cloaked thing was swinging down that large scythe, with a blade easily larger than his body, and aiming it straight at him…

* * *

Kazuya Jirai, the father of Hitonari Jirai, was more than capable of keeping up with things in his life. If he took on a new project at work, he would have whatever needed building (he worked in construction) built in less than the projected amount of time. If Kazuya so chose to arrange a dinner date with any number of friends, family members, or business clients he would have everything prepared and ready before they set the date. What he hadn't supremely mastered, was keeping up with his son's life.

Presently he paced worriedly around the kitchen, fresh from a date with a woman who, though he loved, he couldn't really remember well right now. All he could think about was Hito and his whereabouts. He'd already finished calling the school, which gave him nothing but slightly shorter fingernails due the fact that he'd bitten on them up until he received the 'Leave a message' message signaling no one stayed after school that late, not even very devoted teachers.

'Damn it Hito, where the hell _are_ you?!"' Kazuya thought. He looked at his watch. 10:17. 'He'd have been here by now unless he missed the bus…twice!"' the blond man brushed his fingers through his hair and breathed a sigh of annoyance. 'You better not be dead kid, because when I find you I want to kill you myself!"' the blond man settled himself down at the kitchen table, and looked up at the door in vain after thinking these thoughts, not knowing exactly how wrong his hopes were.

* * *

The slash missed Hito by a hair. Not because the boy had purposefully dodged, but because he'd stepped back in shock as he saw the black and red scythe (the blade was black, the handle crimson red) coming towards him.

"WHOA! What the hell?!" Hito yelled to the creature. It seemed to glide more so than walk, and pulled from the ground its huge scythe after it stuck momentarily.

"Your soul will be much needed…" the creature glided back a bit, at the same time, Hito crawled back with his butt on the floor and his hands behind it so that he looked like he was impersonating a crab. "Please give it to me…" the beast's scraggly voice sprung out and it glided in again. Hito gulped and tried to guess which way it was going to swing.

'_Damn it! Which side?"_' the red haired boy looked at the scythe and the beast's feet, well, the hem of its robe as it glided towards him. '_Can't do anything but guess, damn, even when I had a martial arts instructor I wasn't good at fighting!_"' Hito clenched his eyes shut, reopened them and rolled to the left as the scythe made a right side swing, allowing him a narrow margin at the beginning of the strike to dodge.

"Foolish boy! You cannot fight me if you don't even think of fighting me!" the beast yelled. Its cloaked form twirled around with incredible speed and Hito blinked in confusion. For whatever reason, he'd just realized he was supposed to be in a trial, which meant this beast played a part in his revival.

'_Tsugemaru and Hattei were talking about Shiki and stuff, what exactly am I supposed to do to unlock it?!"_' the green eyes of Hitonari Jirai were wide with wonder as he pondered this and rolled out of the way of another strike, though this one was to the left.

"If you have no will, then give me your soul!" The beast continued it's murmurings despite the fact that Hito didn't seem to respond. It glided very high up and seemed to swell with power, perhaps the power of darkness. Hito stopped pondering how to release his Shiki and looked at the beast as it began to circle around him in the air.

'_What now?!"_' The red haired boy backed away with a gulp. The beast's circling motion began to move faster and faster, then, as it circled him for the seventh time it rose the black and red scythe over its head and spun it around at the same time it was circling him.

"This…." The creature began to speak as Hito looked up at it unmoving. "is…" it's scythe seemed to emit a black glow, but Hito was unsure as to whether it was coming from the scythe in truth. "your…." Hito suddenly felt chilled to the bone as the beast addressed him. Then his body froze up as the beast's hand stopped spinning his scythe and it stopped its circular movement directly over Hito. It raised its scythe and the black glow became crimson red. "DOOM!" The yell was cold and powerful.

Hito continued to stare up at the creature, his eyes wide and mouth agape, but, for some reason, he was unable to move, even as the beast swung its scythe downward and the blade glowed with incredible energy before releasing a huge blast of red. '_HOLY CRAP!!!"_' Hito watched as the blast rushed toward him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he realized there was no possible way he could escape the blast, which was bigger than his house he suspected.

'_Will to live…Shiki….Power….My Soul….All of it…gone?!"_' these thoughts whizzed through Hito's mind. Then, the face of Kazuya Jirai. '_Dad…."_' The blast of energy crashed into the ground…

* * *

Hattei frowned as he looked at the black pool of energy. '_This kid sure likes to take his time…and ours._"' The blue haired boy glanced at his watch (an oddly ornate one that no human would be able to understand) for the umpteenth time and sighed. "Tsugemaru, why the hell don't you jus-" Hattei began, but he was cut off by Tsugemaru.

"Don't think I'm giving up on him. It's still far from time…." The blond man anxiously looked at his own watch (which was as odd as Hattei's). Hattei frowned.

"Is it really that you want him to prevail…Or did you just want to give him hope before he was destroyed?" Hattei questioned darkly. Tsugemaru looked away from his companion and sighed.

"Don't pretend like it isn't a possibility that he'd pass."

"Why not, it isn't?" Hattei questioned, looking at the pool again. Tsugemaru closed his eyes, and then re opened them and looked at the black pool himself.

* * *

"I believe he'll prevail." Tsugemaru stated. Hattei blinked. He looked as though he wanted to ask something else, but then shrugged and turned back to watch the very unamusing black pool.

"Well, I'll be damned! What is it that made you come here so soon?! Well, at all, for that matter?!" A British accent broke Hito's vision of his father. An oddly echoed British accent…That had a voice Hito had never heard before attached to it.

Hito sat bolt upright in surprise. He blinked as things came back into focus. '_Whoa, where….This place…Last I remember I was about to be smashed by a guy who dressed up as Death!"_' Hito's green eyes swiveled in every direction.

He was so used to black rooms it was hard to adjust to seeing a red room. All red with the exception of an odd symbol painted onto the wall before him. It reminded Hito of an eye, as it was an oval shaped outline with a black slit mark in the center. Well, it looked like a cat's eye specifically.

"I suppose you're curious as to where you are?!" the voice spoke again. Hito stood up this time, just as fast as he'd previously sat up and gulped as he looked around. Nothing seemed weird in the room. Well, except for the fact that it was a horrible room. No furniture, posters, or equipment of any kind. It was a barren red walled room with red floors and a red roof. The only thing odd was that eye painted on the wall….

"Uh, yeah, kind of." Hito said, measuring the threat of talking to the voice as to not talking to it. He decided to talk as that way he (hopefully) wouldn't piss it off.

"It's really quite simple; you're in your soul. But of course you're disbelieving…" the voice spoke yet again. Hito blinked.

"My soul?! Isn't that a little cliché?" he smiled as he surveyed the room. "Anyway, even if I _were_ in my soul, that doesn't explain why I have a hitchhiker….that won't show his face." Hito looked around the room again, as though hoping to see the stranger.

"Hitchhiker?! I AM part of your soul, thanks for giving me credit. And as there isn't a great deal of time we should cut straight to the chase." The voice seemed to ignore the fact that Hito wanted to see him.

Hito rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, what is 'the chase'?" he brushed a hand through his red hair and looked around the red room.

"Well well well, look who can be demanding when they want! Why aren't you so assertive when dealing with those jerks at school?" the voice questioned with a laugh behind it. Hito frowned. How did this guy know he got picked on? "Yes, I know you were bullied all through your life. I'm also quite aware that you wet the bed until you were 8, have to sit in the back seat of a car because of anxiety issues, and have horrible diarrhea after eating anything with the slightest hint of Peanut in it." The voice stated with a snicker after each confession. Hito face fell.

"The hell! How do you know so much about me?!" he stood up defiantly, albeit with reddened cheeks, and yelled around the room. The voice seemed to ponder for a moment; either that or it had just decided to laugh silently.

"I've already told you, I'm a part of your soul. The part of it you'll need if you want to pass this trial and defeat Yomi-" it began again, but Hito cut him off with another trademark question.

"Um, who's Yomi?" the boy asked with a slight sweat drop.

"Ah, that's the creature that's, at present, trying to kill you. He's the guardian of Hell, where your Soul would have gone were you to die." He stated simply. Hito's eyes widened.

"I WOULD have gone to Hell?!" he asked with shock. "What about now, am I turning my life around?!" Hito continued, his jaw dropped.

"Sorry, I should have said the Underworld, just trying to keep things short. Hell we're far from." The voice said slightly smug, as though having all this knowledge impressed Hito (who was blinking confused).

"Uh, how do you know more than me? If you're my soul and all…" Hito said. The voice sighed, and seemed about to explain when there was a large BOOM and the ground shook. Hito blinked in question, but didn't get to ask one. "Oh dear, well I guess this ends our time for today, that is, unless you think dying and knowing the answer to your question is better than not dying and not knowing the answer…" the voice said sarcastically. Hito pondered which option to take.

"I thin-" he was cut off by the voice, now sounding agitated.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, I can't let you die!" the voice yelled in exasperation. "Now then, I'm going to warn you about what will happen if this room shakes-" the room shook as though being signaled. "-again." The voice said. Hito gulped, not liking the urgency that pervaded the voice. "That is the pounding your Soul is taking-I'm taking from trying to keep that attack from pulverizing us, I may not sound stressed, but that's because I've not let it break through…However, the power of YOUR Shiki is the only thing that can truly cancel it out, and the only way for that to happen is for you to choose." The voice spoke extremely swift, but Hito was able to catch it all relatively easily.

"A choice?" he asked.

"Yes, a tough one-Ah, here it is now!" the voice declared cheerfully. Hito blinked and looked around at what 'it' was, but didn't see anything in any direction before he felt an incredible pain, and saw an incredible amount of blood which made his vision hazy. Then he realized that no one had blood here except for him. "I told you it would be tough." The voice stated. Hito looked down and saw a blade, he would have found it quite unique if it had been any other time, but now that it was stabbed halfway through him he couldn't even admire it's pure black color or elegant length, much less the interesting bulge in the center of the hilt which had the same markings as the wall in front of him, that is to say the markings that look like a cat's eye.

"I-ugh!" Hito collapsed, but instead of hitting the ground the sword seemed to float him up and turn him around, so he was facing the Eye which had somehow changed areas and was no the roof.

"Your choice, remove that sword-the limit on your power- or let your hand fall limp because of weakness, and die." The voice said, its accent was less now and Hito could hear the voice as though he himself was speaking. Hito looked up, blood spreading through his school clothing and soaking the blade before dripping off onto the floor. He tried to move his right hand to grasp it, but he felt that hand was going numb and knew it was a waste.

'_I, can't just die, not when I've been given two freaking chances to live…Then again, this must be that 'Unlocking your Shiki' thing. I guess I can't…"_' Hito began to think, his eyes almost closed, when he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, and felt the arm twitch. Then a shrill and yet eerily raspy voice split into his head.

"DO IT!" the voice finished his previous sentence. Hito's left arm, which was numb and useless before his right one had been, clenched its fist of its own will. Hito's eyes widened and he looked to see the Mark on it glowing a bright Crimson.

'_Am I….Becoming one of those creatures?"'_ Hito continued looking at the arm as the mark seemed to widen and spread upward through his arm and then body. _'I'm…becoming that hideous thing, the thing Tsugemaru and Hattei said they hunted…I'm becoming what killed…ME?!"_' Hito's thoughts were at first afraid, and then, like the last spark on a flame lighting ablaze the Mark exploded with pain, and his thoughts shifted to one thing: Survival. "NO!" Hito yelled, looking at his arm, which had become pale white, as though to replace the Mark of the Hollow.

"YES!" the voice in his head screamed. The eye on the roof 'closed' and there was only a thin line where it had once been, as though it couldn't watch. Hito's left arm rose, about to grasp the blade, Hito fought his own arm, trying to keep it from grasping, but he was quickly losing the battle, and with it his last strength.

'_Damnit, think, I can't become that thing! I have to…for Dad…What can I do though, it's stronger than me…My other arm…"_ Hito's eyes went wide at the last thought. He had to use his right arm to grasp before the left, otherwise he was sure the Hollow would fully invade his Soul, and destroy him in the process. He could feel his right arm now, pooling together all his strength, he released his mental hold on the left arm, and his right arm snapped forward inhumanly fast to grasp the sword. Both hands collided at the hilt…

* * *

Hattei's eyes went wide. He sat up from the chair he'd taken sleeping position in. "Tsugemaru, was that thing just now..." the blue haired boy's voice trailed off into the distance as he watched pool. He looked at Tsugemaru, who had a small smile on his face. The pool began to bubble, then the bubble turned to a boil, and the boil to huge splashes of black liquid leaping up insanely fast out of the pool.

"Yes, it is. And it appears….He's even stronger than you were." Tsugemaru stated with a smirk. Hattei, though he felt the need to hit Tsugemaru for that comment, couldn't move from the incredible amount of Shiki the pool was now welling up with. Then, as sudden as it began, the pool stopped jerking, and the water lay flat. Both men had only about a minute to think, as the pool erupted again, only this time, making one huge rocket of pure energy cascade out and land on the other side, behind both of them.

* * *

**A minute before the Black Water's Eruption**

Yomi, the demonic scythe wielding guard to the Underworld, floated quite still, it's last attack having finished his latest opponent. "Too bad, they never do throw a strong one down." The raspy voice sighed. "I suppose I'll-" Energy erupted from the crater where the last attack had made its mark, and a bit of it sheathed off a square of Yomi's robe, causing him to stop.

"That…" The darkness had, for this moment, seemed to disperse as a figure in the crater, still smoking, spoke. "was" the owner of the voice talking seemed to have been kneeling or on all fours, as he was now rising to his feet, still smoking. "way" the smoke from the crater cleared, but the man was still a bit hazy. "too hard." Hitonari Jirai blinked as he looked around the area.

"Whoa, check out my new duds!" Hito said, after surveying the area he'd looked at himself. It was true, Hito now had a new attire. His school uniform was now a dark cloak which was only loose at the feet, which it still encompassed completely. The feet themselves were also protected by pure black shoes which weren't quite boots, but reached up a bit past the ankle. Around his neck was a Necklace which had the symbol for 'Judge' on it in Japanese. His left hand had a pure black glove on it, but it was fingerless and had a symbol fashioned in which said 'Release' in Japanese. On his back was sheathed the same blade that was previously through his gut, and now that Hito could see it clearly he realized it was sheathed the entire time, and now the eye on the hilt guard seemed to have closed. It reached about to Hito's knees, but that was with it lying diagonally against his back.

As Hito looked at the blade he realized it seemed to be a thinner version of a claymore, but just as long. It had a thick hilt, but not especially long one, and the hilt formed a simple square. The biggest change, however, came from his right arm. Where there was once an arm, there was now a white cylindrical object which went from under his wrist-low robes, to his right thigh near his knee. It came down to a point and seemed to be a blade on the side facing away from Hito. The red haired boy looked at what had replaced his arm and his sword.

"Nice, kind of weird though. And it doesn't fit my trend of all black now." Hito laughed a bit as he tested it by making slashes in the air. The beast in the air narrowed its eyes (which were illuminated by their yellow glow) and raised its scythe to charge Hito again. Hito blinked and looked at the creature which he had previously been scared to death of. Closing his eyes he realized he wasn't at all afraid, not even without his sight. A smile came to his lips.

"Hey, I don't know why, but I'm guessing that right now…I can probably hold my own." The red haired boy bent his knees as the creature continued to descend from its floating position rapidly. Continuing he placed his left hand on the sword arm and seemed to pet it, bending lower all the while and still not opening his eyes. "So…let's try, shall we?!" His eyes snapped open and glowed a fierce red before he released the tension in his legs, sprang straight up through the air, and slashed straight through Yomi's left arm.

"ARGH!" Yomi's eyes widened. _'This is more than I expected…given the fact that I'm limited… Oh well, I can still beat him with this I'm sure!"_' Yomi thought, raising again into the air, despite the fact that Hito seemed to be able to deal with this advantage.

"You gonna run when I get stronger?!! Cause that's really not cool man!" Hito yelled into the air. Yomi ignored him and charged up his blade in the same fashion of spinning it around. Hito could see clearly now, even though it was pitch black and he also felt, as well as saw, the mass of energy welling up. He looked at his right arm. '_This is…the form of my Shiki...If it reflects me…"_' Hito closed his eyes again, letting instinct grab him, even as his opponent swirled and charged up an attack.

"You're a fool! You should beat me while you have the chance!" laughter rang from the guardian as it finished it's seventh swirl, and flung the blade down like last time, releasing a torrent of red energy. Hito opened his eyes, and held out his right arm. The arm glowed, then, something amazing happened. It changed. It spread out and now Hito had his right arm back, only the arm was holding onto something that looked like an umbrella without a curve downward. It also had the Eye symbol on it. The blast collided with it, but didn't even scratch it to Yomi's surprise.

"No, I'm not a fool…I just know that Hitonari Jirai is a lot better at protecting, than hurting!" Hito yelled. 'Dad, this is for you!"' Hito thought, he opened his mouth, and cried: "IT'S OVER!" The blast finally dispersed, and Hito's umbrella like shield glowed and folded back onto his arm as a blade. Hito looked at his once more changed arm, then bent his knees, and leapt upwards. Yomi couldn't even react he was so shocked, before his body was sliced in two.

* * *

**Present**

The energy blast landed behind Tsugemaru and Hattei, who both turned to it. As the smoke cleared, a familiar red head boy was shown, unconscious, and with an attire that looked all too familiar to both men…

_To Be Continued_

**Next time:** "I SERIOUSLY don't know what's up with this Court of Eternity! Why in the world is Hattei meeting me at my freaking school?! Doesn't he have better things to do? Either way, I don't like the sound of having to join the Court and fight those dead spirit things all day, but then again I'm not really one for him tagging along to the Aquarium with us. Whatever the reason for it, I get the mission to take out the Hollow too, only I can't even remember how I beat Yomi! Next time on **Bleach: Court of Eternity: _The New Day Job_!** I hate part time jobs with no pay!"

A/N: Not much to say here... Thanks again to my gracious reviewer, and please do review again! That goes for others that haven't reviewed and told me how I'm doing, I know I'm not the best author so please tell me what I'm doing wrong to you.Well, see you guys!


	4. The New Day Job

_Chapter 4: The New Day Job_

Hito awoke to the soft yet steady trickling of water from the rooftop onto the windowsill and then the ground. Despite the fact that the drizzling would keep most asleep, Hito peeked open a green eye, and the sun invaded it.

"ARGH!!" The redhead screamed, leaping up from the protection of the brown pillow and covering his opened eye with one hand to keep the previously infiltrating light from getting any further into his eye. He then slammed his head back down into the pillow, only this time face first so as his eyes weren't blinded by sunlight. He stayed in the safety of the fluffy brown pillow for a while long, content not to think about…something…something that was important…that he should be concerned about…

"Hey, what the hell's going on up here?!" a deeper voice than Hito's own broke the soft silence of the red head's thoughts. The voice belonged to Kazuya Jirai, Hito's father. Hito took his head from the pillow and blinked for a second, then looked up towards the door, his heart racing as he wondered whether or not he'd actually heard his father.

"Dad?..." he asked with wide anxiety filled eyes. The door opened seconds later, and the blond older man entered with a frown. Hito's eyes lit up and he lunged from the bed and embraced his father.

"Whoa! W-what's up with you?!" his father asked, bewildered. Hito pulled away and wiped the tears that had streamed from his eyes away, hoping his father didn't see them. Mr. Jirai's face softened and he turned around. "I can understand how you'd be worried, but I'm fine and I won't be punishing you for hanging around at the construction site." The man said, a bit of an icy tone leaking into his voice.

Hito blinked curiously. The red haired boy took a few steps back and collapsed onto his bed. "Construction…?" he began. Kazuya frowned.

"Don't you remember? Ah, that blow to the head must have done it!" Kazuya stated he had twirled back around, now putting on a black blazer over his dress shirt for work. "These two guys brought you up to the door at about 2 o' clock in the morning." He began to button as Hito's eyes were drawn to the roof in thought.

'_Blow to the head…two guys…I'm back in the real world…Did Hattei and Tsugemaru go?"_' Hito thought to himself. He looked up to his father. "What did they look like?!" he asked, confident he knew their appearances (though it was hard for him to sift through them in his boggled mind).

Kazuya frowned in thought. "Ah, one of them was tall and had longer hair than a lot of the women I meet," Kazuya began.

Hito's mind painted a picture of Tsugemaru that was rather inaccurate, as the man had a rather curvy waist…and a previously non existent bust. He shook the mental image away as his father began anew.

"And the other one was a scraggly kid with blue hair." The older man finished his sentence as well as his preparations for work.

Hito looked up once more and his mind painted a picture of Hattei…In beggar's robes instead of his deep black cloak. The boy shook that image out of his head and looked again at his father. "But what happened that I had to be dragged back?"

"Oh, they said that you'd had a girder fall on your head." His father said simply. Hito face fell.

'_The hell?! I think Hattei and Tsugemaru overestimated the human durability level!"_' Hito thought with a sweat drop. Kazuya yawned and turned away again, this time to grab his briefcase.

"Either way it goes, you've got school today, so get on out there, they said you'd be fine despite the injury." Kazuya finished. He walked out of the doorway to Hito's room and as his footsteps began to get faint, Hito called out.

"Dad….Thanks…" Hito yelled after him. The footsteps paused for a moment, then they began again and after a minute or two the sound of a door opening was heard, and then it closed, leaving Hito alone, but with a smile.

School wasn't so easy to smile through. It was true that the beginning of the day went easily enough, but towards the middle of his stay in the familiar public facility something far more unexpected than anything that had happened to him yesterday; his death and rebirth included, happened.

The class was, once again, Nunari-sensei's. Hito was doing his usual thing. That is, not paying attention to the speech his English Teacher was giving and instead trying to do something pointless and/or stupid. As he tried to balance his pencil on his nose, there was a sudden very loud CLANG from the hall outside the classroom and the pencil dropped with a far softer PLIT. Nunari-sensei blinked for a moment at being interrupted then, before he could make a move towards the door to investigate there was a defiant shout of:

"THIS DAMN CONTRAPTION WON'T WORK!!!" The class blinked for a moment as well, but the stupor was broken as the voice rang out again: "FINALLY! Damn it, why can't they make things easy in this damn place?" Hito's eyes went wide with worry as Nunari-sensei placed the chalk he was lecturing with on the chalkboard's edge and stomped towards the doorway. The reason he was worried is because, despite his mind telling himself it's illogical, idiotic, and completely unfounded…The voice sounded far too familiar… 

There was an abrupt silence as Nunari-sensei reached the door only to have it opened slowly and deliberately independently of his hand. The students stopped their whispering to see who it was, but Hito already knew, and dread washed over him along with millions of reasons for why the boy he had met only once before was standing in the doorway.

"Ah, are you Nunari-san?" Hattei, his attire now that of the ordinary student, his blue hair smoothed and held back in a pony tail. Nunari-sensei at first seemed to want to say no; but then his mind grasped that he was indeed Nunari-san.

"Er- yes. Are you a new student?" the fat teacher asked in his rather annoyingly high voice. Hattei nodded vigorously and shoved a pink slip under the teacher's nose before appraising the class the same as they were appraising him. "Ah, I see. Well that's in order…." The teacher had glanced at the pink slip and, with a flick of the wrist, had put it in his suit. He then looked at Hattei. "Well then, you may take a seat anywhere free, and please refrain from using all Japanese. It says here-" he patted his breast pocket where he'd placed the slip. "You're on the same level as these students so don't expect special treatment!"

With a nod, Hattei slid the door close and began to move towards the desks in the center of the room. Specifically he moved towards an empty desk to the left of Hito. Hito just stared blankly at the Judge of Eternity as he moved through the room until he came to the seat beside him. Then, very suddenly, he stood up, grasped Hattei by the elbow, and with the words: "Please excuse us," dragged the blue haired boy from the room.

Hito didn't test his luck too much; he remained only a few feet away from Nunari-sensei's class, but he didn't hear sounds of pursuit, so, with obvious annoyance, he released Hattei and folded his arms with a glare. "What the hell are you doing here?!" the red head asked. Hattei cocked his head to the side.

"I gotta ask, why the hell does it matter to you if I'm here or not?" Hattei's voice was even, but his face had broken into a smile which seemed to annoy Hito even more.

"Because, you told my dad a girder fell on my head!" Hito remarked. Hattei looked up thoughtfully, apparently trying to remember, and then he snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that, I wasn't sure how strong humans are exactly!" he said, continuing to smile as though it was a big joke. Hito twitched more and more as he looked at the blue haired boy, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he turned around, threw his hands up in exasperation, and began to stalk back towards the classroom. Hattei frowned, then sighed and yelled to his retreating back: "You're a Judge of Eternity," he said simply. Hito stopped, still facing away from Hattei.

Slowly, but surely, he turned around with his green eyes twice as big as before, measuring Hattei's face and trying to determine by that whether or not it was a joke. Hattei was no longer smiling. In fact, as Hito looked at him, he could swear the blue haired boys eyes held a bit of sadness in their depths. The red haired boy blinked, shook himself like a dog trying to rid its fur of water, then spoke- slowly and deliberately- while keeping eye contact. "_You're_ seriously crazy," he retorted.

Hattei frowned. "You don't think I'd show up here just to annoy you? Or take back a story on why you were knocked out when we took you home? Or get into the English class when I have no express reason for wanting to learn any more of that language?" Hito already knew the answer. The only logical answer for Hattei's return was the one that he'd first supplied; from the little he knew of the Court of Eternity, it seemed like they tried to refrain from getting involved in the daily lives of humans as much as possible. Which meant that he wasn't-he _couldn't_ be human….Not anymore.

"That's what the trial was." Hito murmured faintly. Hattei nodded.

"Tsugemaru should've told you, but I get the feeling….Well, it's not important. All that matters now is that you know. I've been assigned along with you to Tsugemaru's division," Hattei continued, he sounded annoyed upon saying he was in Tsugemaru's division, and some part of Hito was laughing at how Hattei had ended up with probably the division he liked least, though this assessment was based solely on seeing him interact with Tsugemaru the night before. "and you've been assigned along with him. We're a part of a 'Specialized" team." The blue haired boy finished.

Hito was silent for a bit longer, then, without warning, he ran forward until he was only a foot away from Hattei, and then brought up his right hand, which had curled into a fist, and swung it across the boy's unsuspecting cheek. Hattei stumbled back as Hito unclenched and shook tingle from his fingers. "That's for hitting me yesterday….And for being a jerk." The red haired boy remarked. Hattei had a hand on his cheek, but otherwise didn't seem to be fazed, something Hito, though he would never admit it, admired.

"Nice punch….Why didn't you do that yesterday though?" Hattei queried. Hito frowned.

"I wasn't equal with you yesterday…Now we're in the same groove." Hito finished. Hattei nodded as a DING DONG sound filtered through the school hallways. Hito looked up, and then looked around the hallway as though just realizing where he was. "Well, I guess I'll see you-" he was cut off by Hattei.

"Not likely; Tsugemaru managed to rig up a schedule for me that matched yours. We got all the same classes." Hattei said; again, annoyance was evident in his voice. Hito raised an eyebrow, then sighed and nodded.

"I think that works out pretty well…You have to tell me how to do….Whatever it is you guys do," he said. Hattei shrugged, reached into his pocket to pull out what Hito recognized as a rolled up schedule slip, and began to walk away to navigate the next class he and Hito had. Hito frowned as he realized Hattei was going the wrong way. 'Oh well, his problem"' and with an evil smirk, the red haired newly appointed Judge of Eternity stalked off in the right direction of the class.

The rest of the school day passed almost without incident. Almost because during their final class, a class in which an anticipated field trip to the Kanazawa Aquarium was involved, Hattei, who had mysteriously disappeared before the class, arrived and introduced himself as usual with the exception of having a signed form which would allow him to go to the Aquarium. This baffled the already scatterbrained teacher, Iroku-san, but she permitted him to go with the rest of her Environmental Science class to the Aquarium.

"How the heck did you get a signed form so quick?!" Hito asked as they boarded one of the busses.

"Simple: When I went back to the Court I had Tsugemaru sign it," Hattei stated, then, at the sight of Hito's wide eyes, he added, "he's my legal guardian as far as this school is concerned, but he's just my superior in the court otherwise." Hito's wide eyes became normal sized again as he sidled into a seat. Hattei sat down right next to the red haired boy, much to his annoyance, but he didn't try and maneuver out of the seat.

After everyone had gotten settled, however, and the bus started to wheedle along the roads of Kanazawa, Hito made a motion to stand up. Hattei turned to him and shook his head. Hito frowned, but obeyed, staying put as Hattei then opened his backpack (they would be returning to the school after the normal release, so they'd been allowed to grab them) and pulled out an oddly adorned CD player. Oddly adorned because it had a skull and crossbones on it's face.

"Er, what the heck is that f-" Hito began, but was cut off as Hattei reached up with inhuman speed, and snapped the headphones onto his head. Hito reached up, about to remove them, when suddenly he heard, not music, but a familiar voice emanating from them.

"Raine Tsugemaru, Supreme Judge of 9th division of Court of Eternity, assigning Unseated Judges of Eternity to eliminate one: Rank 'I', F-level exposure threat Hollow; Black Soul count at 59 . Judges assigned shall be two: Hitonari Jirai and Hattei Ayanami. Located in Sector 12 of Kanazawa City. End Transmission." Hito's eyes had gone wider and wider as he listened, and by the end of the Transmission all he could do was mouth wordlessly at Hattei.

"Hope you're ready for a bit of Hollow Hunting," Hattei said.

"I-you-I CAN'T FIGHT THOSE THINGS!!!!!" Hito yelled. Luckily for him, his outburst went unnoticed by the majority of the students as they all clapped and yelled upon hitting a bump in the road and bounced up. "Are you two crazy?!" the red haired boy asked. Hattei sighed.

"You can, and you WILL fight the Hollows. Don't worry; this one should be fairly straightforward. It's somewhere in the Aquarium, we already kno-" Hattei was cut off as Hito grasped him by the collar.

"The hell?! One of those…_things_ is in the Aquarium…around living _people_?!" the red head's eyes had gone wide again. Hattei sighed and pushed Hito away. Hito was about to grasp him again, but the bus took a sharp swerve that threw him off balance as Hattei spoke up again.

"Despite popular belief, they're _usually_ in areas populated by people." Hattei retorted sarcastically. "But don't worry; it's likely not going to do anything to show its presence until it finds a good and strong person…Spiritually, anyway. After that happens…" Hattei shrugged. Hito's eyes weren't the only thing wide now; his mouth was gaping in shock at the boy beside him.

"You're talking about _death_ like it's an inconvenience, or a bad day! Do you know how horrible it is to DIE?!" Hito asked loudly. Hattei just looked at the boy for a moment, nothing on his face moving from a stony and almost cold expression. Hito was about to force him into speech with a blow, but then it dawned on him what he just said, and he looked away, ashamed.

"Don't be stupid." Hattei said simply. Hito looked up at Hattei again, noticeably calmer and sighed.

"Alright. But why am I needed for this? I've never fought one before!" the red haired boy asked. Hattei frowned.

"You can't just be dead weight. Like Tsugemaru said last night, you'll only be accepting death more if you choose to undertake the trial. You passed, so now you've got to embrace the life of…well, being in the after life." The boy explained. Hito hung his head.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" He asked. Hattei smirked.

"Not a chance. Say hello to your new Day Job," the boy remarked. The bus sidled into the museum parking lot as Hito let out a very audible sigh. This, in no way, expressed the horrible fear brooding inside him…

_To Be Continued…_

**Next Time:** Talk about complicated! My life went from being…well, my _life_ to my _death_! Okay, so that's pretty obvious, but what's not obvious is how I'm supposed to fight the same kind of thing that nearly chomped me in half a night ago! I'm all for saving the people, but I'm just not the kind of person who can leap into battle against a huge shark toothed thing coming right at me! Hattei, if you save me, I swear I'll do your homework for the rest of the year! Next time on **Bleach: Court of Eternity: **_**Go Fish.**_This one's going to be a whooper!

A/N: Whew! Well, if you've stuck with it so far, next chapter's the first real fight with full Shiki goodness! As always, review if you've been reading, until next time!


	5. Go Fish

_Chapter 5: Go Fish_

The South Kanazawa Aquarium was quite full that day. Not with people, but, with an assortment of many different kinds of fish that had just been added. The original design for the place was as a water park, and as Hito and Hattei walked with their class through the front gates they definitely saw where that came from. In the very center of the spacious front lawn rested a square pool about the size of a baseball diamond turned on its tilt. Before the receptionist's front desk sat another in ground pool with a few red and black speckled fish swimming in it. There were four main hallways branching off in different directions (two to the right, two to the left), down each was a special event being held just for their field trip that day.

Upon getting their hand stamped, most of the students chose to go peering down the tunnel with the exotic animals like Sharks, Whales, and Swordfish. Those that didn't chose either the 'standard' fish that were miniscule in size and very normal looking, or the hall that would display any ocean dwelling creatures of other phyla in the Kingdom Animalia. Hattei looked at his watch, and it bleeped a few times. When Hito looked over the blue haired boy's shoulder, he saw that the watch seemed to have some kind of map on it, and an arrow was pointing towards the lower left tunnel- a darker passage that had Eels, and Seahorses and more exotic animals rather than just fish. Hito looked towards the tunnel with Hattei and they both noted that there were few people there.

"Whoa, I know seahorses look kind of lame, but I figured at least someone would want to see an Electric Eel!" Hito exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't be stupid- just because humans can't _see_ Hollows, doesn't mean they can't _feel _their darker energy. It's the reason why people get a cold chill in an empty room." Hattei informed Hito. Hito frowned, but then shrugged off Hattei's superior tone.

"Well, whatever. Let's just… Get this over with," Hito admonished, taking a step towards the tunnel. Hattei nodded and walked after the redhead.

Despite his bravado, it would be a grave understatement to consider Hitonari Jirai ready to "get this over with". In fact, thoughts were swirling through the boy's head now on so many things. Such as: _'How am I going to explain this to my dad?! How am I going to _live_ to explain this to my dad?! Maybe, if I don't die, I'll be able to get a reprieve…. I mean, how useful could a kid be?!!"'_ Hito sighed, looking down and closing his eyes with his thoughts now swirling madly.

"Hey, stupid," Hattei yelled back to Hito. Hito immediately got angry, glaring at him.

"_What?"_

"Don't forget to keep track of time. We have to be back out of here by 2:00 according to that obnoxious lady," Hattei said, pointing over his shoulder towards their Biology class' teacher, Iroku-san. Hito nodded and rolled his eyes a bit, then dashed to catch up with Hattei to ask him some of the more normal questions whizzing through his head.

"Hey, how exactly am I suppose to fight this big bad Hollow without a weapon?! Even you had that weird chain last night!" Hito pointed out. Hattei kept walking silently. Hito gulped, wondering if perhaps the Court of Eternity wouldn't give him a weapon, being such a new member and all. "And that's not even dealing with the bigger problem of me possibly dying again…" Hito's voice almost trailed off as he muttered the last statement to himself. He then shook himself out of it and looked back at Hattei's back (as Hattei had taken up the front of the two). "HEY! Are you listening?!" Hito yelled, walking a bit faster to keep up with Hattei's pace, "I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I doubt you guys could bring me back to life _twice_, right?!! So what if I die again doing your stupid Hollow Hunt?!" Hito yelled at Hattei.

The next movement was lightning quick. Hattei had turned around, ran forward, and jammed his fist into Hito's unsuspecting stomach with such a force the boy flew back into the reinforced glass of a very surprised Nursing Shark's tank. The newest member to the Court of Eternity gasped for breath, doubling over and coughing a bit as Hattei towered over him and spoke.

"It's not for me… It's not for you… Those aren't the reasons we do this! We as members of the Court of Eternity shouldn't worry about ourselves and selfishly walk away from a fight after all the strength we've been given!" Hattei began. The boy's body was trembling with rage as he spoke to Hito, whose eyes were now wide as they looked at the floor before his doubled over frame. "It's for _them_!" Hattei waved his hands over the all of the few people milling around- they were all far too far away to see the commotion, and even from Hattei and Hito's perspectives just specks in the central connecting hallway, but Hito got the point. "We do this so they don't lose their souls and become Hollow beasts, flailing around meaninglessly. WE do it because were the only ones who can," Hattei finished.

Hito's wide eyes returned to normal size, and now they had a look of shame within them. "Hattei, I-" the boy was cut off as Hattei shook his head.

"Don't talk, just _think_… What if you'd been devoured immediately?!" Hattei queried. Hito took a moment to let the words sink in, going over the horrible attack that had wrenched him from his body and replaying the other events of the night before. "You'd be one of them- a hopeless beast- if that was the case. Do you want that for them… For your dad?" Hattei finished. Hito looked silently at his companion.

"I'm sorry," was all the boy said. It seemed to be enough. Hattei turned around and continued walking. Hito straightened himself and did the same.

"I wonder how far back this hall goes… Well, I guess it circles if we're seeing sharks- or maybe they have two separate displays of sharks…" Hito mused as they continued. They had covered quite a bit of area in the aquarium with Hattei continuing to anxiously check his watch for the signs of the Hollow.

"How close are we?" Hito then asked nervously, this was the first time since their previous, emotion filled conversation that he'd brought up the Hollow.

Hattei checked his watch on that cue, and then with slight shock apparent in his eyes, turned to Hito. "Hold on," he said. Hito blinked as Hattei closed his eyes and began to glow. The glow as a velvety red at first, then a deep purbly, and finally, night sky black. Soon the glow enveloped Hattei completely- not giving Hito a chance to inquire about it before he realized that Hattei might not be inside it. He was about to shout out for the boy, but then it dispersed, and Hito gaped. Hattei was now wearing the familiar Court of Eternity dress- the black robe, shoes, and gloves, and holding the chain dagger by keeping part of it tied around his neck with chain links nearest to the dagger end in his hand. "Surprised?" the blue haired boy smirked.

"How, What, When?!" Hito spluttered in shock. Hattei laughed, twirling his chain egotistically.

"This what happens when you release your Shiki- your physical body and spiritual body switch places…. Kind of," Hattei explained vaguely. Hito blinked, clearly confused, which made his black cloaked companion sigh. "Never mind the technical stuff right now, you need to do the same thing because we're close to the Hollow," Hattei informed.

"Okay…. Only… How?" Hito asked sheepishly.

"Remember last night? When you fought Yomi? Just like that," Hattei said, only to receive a blank look from Hito. The blue haired boy sighed and repeated, "Do exactly what you did last night when you took the trial- battle cries and all, if you need. It should come to you." Hito thought back, and then remembered the sword arm he had taken possession of, and the eye, and the losing control of one of his limbs…

"Oh, like the-" Hito began, but whatever he was about to say was discountinued as, with alook of deep concentration crossing his face, he disappeared in the same black glow. A moment later, he was wearing the Court of Eternity's cloak, gloves, and boots and he also had the pale white blade arm attached to his right arm, along with the sheathed long, double edged blade laying diagonally on his back.

"How did I do that?!" Hito queried. Hattei's right eye twitched in annoyance. 

"Don't be dim, I just told you!"

Hito blinked, then shook himself and, with a look of determination, began walking forward without Hattei. "Alright… let's go!"

"…Moron…. I have the map…." Hattei pointed out. Hito sweat dropped.

"So… What is this thing exactly?" the silence that had resumed after the boys' change in attire had once again been broken- this time about ten minutes later in the dark hallway that seemed to go on for quite a ways. Hito, the questioner, was pointing to his right blade-arm.

"I'd say a sword," Hattei said nonchalantly. Hito rolled his eyes.

"I knew _that_ I meant, why the heck did it take the place of my right arm?! And besides, I've already got a sword!" Hito moved his left arm to take a hold of the hilt of the blade on his back. At that, Hattei turned around to look at him, alarmed. 

"B-but you can't use it… Can you?" Hattei asked the last part with a bit of fear- if Hito was hearing him right. Hito thought that was a rather stupid question. How in the world would any boy with a TV not know the basics of sword fighting. But he didn't point this out, and just nodded, reaching with his left hand for the hilt and pulling. He pulled the whole thing off its holster- that is, the sword AND the sheath still attached. He blinked in amazement while Hattei's expression went back to normal, with a little relief shown afterwards.

"Wow, that was weird, huh?" Hito remarked with a small laugh. He picked the blade up and held it upside down. The sheath didn't fall off as he expected, so he jerked it up quickly. Again, the sword was not unsheathed. He began to pull at the sheath, using his foot to hold the sheath (as his right arm was still a blade) then he hacked at the sheath with his blade arm. All to no avail. The sheath refused to be removed. Hattei laughed at the failed attempts.

"What did you do to my sword?!" Hito yelled, putting the blade back on its holster and glaring at Hattei. Hattei managed to stop giggling to explain.

"That sword is your Zanpakutoh- Soul Cuttter." He pointed to the blade. Hito blinked, wondering why Hattei was jumping to something so random, but then Hattei continued. "_That_ one," Hattei pointed to the blade arm, "Is the form of your Shiki." He explained.

"What?"

"Okay, listen closely because I'm not going to go through this again," Hattei said, getting into lecture mode. "Basically, there are 3 Zanjutsu, or Sword Arts, for fighting Hollows at the disposal of the Court of Eternity. The first sword art is the art of using your Shiki's true form to fight. All the Shiki you have has a certain level of stability, and when one learns to control it, they create a specifically shaped weapon that houses and helps them channel their Shiki for destruction." Hattei held up his chain as he explained this, and Hito realized that was an example of a Shiki Zanpakutoh. "Now that's simply your Shiki's forming a weapon so you can fight for yourself- notice you have little control over it, because you have little control over Shiki now. When you form a true connection with your Shiki, and thus, your soul, you'll be able to unsheathe that sword, and it'll tell you it's name." Hattei was then graced with a "your crazy" look by Hito.

"That's completely crazy," Hito gave voice to his look with this statement, and Hattei sighed.

"I know it sounds weird, but it's how things work. Anyway, this is the first release- or, well, that is," he pointed to Hito's sheathed sword. "We call that 'Shikai' and the second release is when-" Hattei had begun, but what the second release was, Hito wouldn't get to know that day, as, with a ferocious roar and a beeping of Hattei's wristwatch, the shark tank nearest to them burst open and flooded the area. Hito swiveled around in time enough to see Hattei dashing toward the wreckage of the tank in which a huge white masked beast was quickly emerging.

Hito quickly realized how drastically different each Hollow was when compared to the next. The one that had attacked him before was reminiscent of an ape. This beast, on the other hand, had two long, spiked fins the shape of shark fins on its back, and webbed hands and feet and misshapen gills were noticeable on its neck, each one oozing a thick black substance Hito could only guess was Progressed Hollow blood. The hugest difference, however, came in its size and teeth. The previous hollow was big, but it had more girth than pure height, while this Hollow towered over them at what had to be a 20 ft. difference in heights.

The beast roared again, and, simultaneously, picked up a helpless, washed up Hammerhead shark and, like it was candy, take a bite out of it with its gigantic 2ft. long teeth. Nausea hit Hito as he saw the shark being chewed- half of its body still in the hands of the Hollow. While Hito was struggling not to throw up, Hattei had taken action. The blue haired boy had kneeled before the Hollow in a ready position. He swung his chain dagger around in a circle as shark blood squirted past him and squirted the walls around him.

"Sayonara," Hattei murmured, releasing his dagger chain at the apex of a swing and smashing the dagger into the Hollow's right arm. This time Hollow blood squirted past him as the Hollow roared again and tossed the shark away with the injured arm in such a way that the chain went with it- and, due to the fact that Hattei was holding on to the chain, he was forced to let his weapon go. Only for his habit of looping it first around his wrist to backfire as, with a snap signaling a joint had been dislocated or, he was swept off his feet and into a wall.

"Ugh," Hattei uttered weakly after slamming into the wall and breaking through the first two layers or so. The steel framing had stopped his indenture in the wall, but he was still weak from such a throw. Then, before he could even get up, his limp right arm was forcing his body back across the room- the Hollow was still thrashing in pain, and Hattei couldn't focus on getting his wrist unfurled from the chain. After three more walls were crashed through, however, Hattei was lucky enough that the dagger was removed from the beast's arm, and their connection was cut short. Hattei now lay in a heap at the bottom of a pile of rubble from his last broken wall. The Hollow paid no more heed to the dagger, or its owner, after it was removed, and instead turned to the next tastiest thing in the room: Hito.

Hito's eyes were still wide with shock at how easily Hattei had been dispatched. He couldn't believe it- he'd only seen Hattei face on Hollow before, but that Hollow couldn't even touch him. _'I-I-I'm nowhere near as strong as Hattei, even, how can I fight this thing?! How can I even survive?!"'_ Hito pondered as his body continued to stay still. Fear was ensnarling his insides, furling around everything in his body. He knew he had to move, but he just _couldn't_.

The Hollow continued to walk towards him, its long pearly white fangs revealed as it opened its mouth. "HUMAN!!!!" The beast began to speak sensibly (though Hito couldn't really care about such a thing) and continued to stalk towards Hito. Its mouth gleamed as sunlight from a broken wall hit its teeth, and then, in a flash, it bent its head down and snapped its mouth at Hito.

Luck was on the red head's side. At that precise moment, his courage completely failed him, and his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell backward and fainted- the beasts mouth got only air as Hito collapsed. The beast blinked for a few seconds, wondering where its prey had gone, then it sniffed the air, and realized it was right before it all along. With a roar, it smashed the fishtank next to it to pieces in anger, sending water gushing over the area. Hito's eyes snapped open when the water hit his skin, and took in his surroundings, blinking in curiosity before images infiltrated his memory and he realized what kind of situation he was in.

'_I'm going to die!!!"' _Hito leapt up and turned to run away, but uninjured hand of the Hollow was too fast, it slammed down in front of Hito and the Hollow itself soon followed. Hito backed away as the beast growled, then reopened its mouth for attempt number two at eating Hito. Hito's brain was slowing again, his courage leaving him, but this time, he wouldn't get to faint… The beast snapped at him ferociously fast, and Hito yelled and covered his face before… Wetness was against his cheeks. He peeked open an eye, that became two eyes wide with shock. Hattei had risen from the depths of the rubble, and now had his chain intertwined over the lower half of the Hollow's huge mouth. This made it impossible for it to close its mouth, and, though Hito was standing directly below its top row of teeth, it could do nothing but drool for a moment.

The moment ending quickly as, with an enormous effort, Hattei pulled the Hollow back completely enough that it fell on its back, and then the blue haired boy removed his chain and jumped over the beast to join Hito. The Hollow roared, grasping its jaw in pain now. Hito blinked in surprise, but Hattei didn't let the beast regain its footing. He slashed with his dagger at the beast's already injured right arm. This slash removed the arm completely, and the beast was forced to get up using only its left.

With an angry snarl, the Hollow bent its knees when it returned to its feet. Hattei stood directly in front of one of the larger holes in the wall, and spun his chain with his left hand and a smirk. The Hollow leapt straight towards the boy- mouth open wide- and Hattei leapt from the way at the last second. The Hollow broke through the wall, and flew quite the distance away. Hito finally snapped back into it and looked after the Hollow. He saw it land, with a gigantic splash, in the outdoor pool they had seen when they came in. The shocked tourists dashed from the edges of the pool as it splashed without warning or (to them, at least) without reason. Hito then turned to Hattei with shock evident in his face again.

"That was-" he began, but was cut off as Hattei hit him over the head.

"STUPID!" Hito blinked in surprise, but then Hattei hit him again and shoved a finger into his face. "I'm talking about you, STUPID! You just froze up like an idiot! Don't you realize that a Hollow like that's a small fry?! Freeze up when you see a Menos Grande or something!"

Hito didn't bother to ask what a Menos Grande was or retort. He only reached over, grabbed Hattei's wrist, and pulled, then pushed on it. Hattei, who was too surprised by his companion's weird movements didn't manage to do anything until he felt the incredible pain, and then was yanking the previously dislocated bone into place. "There." Hito said with a smile. 

"OW! What the heck did y- Hey, my arm's good… How did you learn to do that?" Hattei asked incredulously.

"Doesn't matter, really," Hito said. He looked towards the pool. "Shouldn't we be going after that thing?" Hattei followed his gaze and then frowned.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get going," Hattei dashed through the hole in the wall, and Hito followed.

"Hey, Hattei," Hito yelled after him. Hattei looked back, both boys still running, to show he was listening as they kept pace. "…Thanks… for saving my stupid behind." Hito said. Hattei shrugged.

"Yeah, whatever- just make sure you don't freeze up here." Hattei remarked as the two finally reached the edge of the pool. Hito noted that all the tourists seemed to have dispersed after the random (but gigantic) splash of water when the Hollow hit the pool. 

"Right… Only… Where's the Hollow?" Hito asked. Hattei looked at his watch, then sighed.

"What?"

"You want to know where the Hollow is? Well, let's just say I hope you can swim," Hattei finished. Hito blinked in confusion, then his eyes widened in comprehension. He looked at the pool, knowing that somewhere a Hollow was lurking beneath its depths.

"I hate my luck," the red haired boy muttered.

_To be Continued_

**Next time:** "Jeez! Can't a guy catch a break?! First I end up dying, then I find out I have to take some weirdo trial to live, and then I become one of the weirdos that established the weirdo trial, and NOW I've got to take on a gigantic fish that's just a little too hard to catch. But I know that there's a way I can beat this freaky fish- especially with Hattei's help! I'm glad we have a plan… Wait a minute, his plan is a distraction… ME?! And why is the Hollow becoming all scary and black?! I'm not liking this one bit! Next time on **Bleach: The Court of Eternity: **_**Embracing Your Fear**_ –Don't you need a fishing license to use live bait?!"

A/N: Whew! Another chapter done! This chapter covers SOME important info on the Court and Shiki, and a whole lotta stuff. If anyone has any questions about Shiki, feel free to ask, but note that I will be explaining pretty much everything you should query about at a later date… If I keep my updates up to date (heh, get it? Updates… Up to date?!) Well, keep reading and reviewing…. Or at least reading….


	6. Embracing Your Fear

_Chapter 6: Embracing Your Fear_

The Kanazawa Aquarium was home to quite a few interesting types of fish and sea creatures. Sharks, squids, eels, octopuses, sea cucumbers, sponges, and Hollows. Well, Hollow. Only a single Hollow currently took up residence at the Aquarium, and, if two young Judges of Eternity had their way, it wouldn't stay there for long. The two judges in question, however, were finding out exactly how hard it was to get their way.

"HERE IT COMES!" Hattei, a blue haired judge of the Court of Eternity, yelled to his partner in dispatching the Hollow, Hitonari Jirai. Both boys were doing their best to locate the Hollow from dry land, despite the fact that the Hollow had disappeared beneath the surface of the Kanazawa Aquarium's rather large outdoor Pool. Hattei's shout from the left side of the pool alerted Hito, who was running along the right side of the pool, that the Hollow had leapt from the water and charged at Hito.

"AH!" Hito's voice was heard screaming before a loud crunch was reverberating through the air from the Hollow's teeth colliding with each other- its mouth had narrowly missed Hito, who rolled out of the way upon hearing Hattei's warning. Hattei spun his chain and dagger around and tossed it at the creature from his side of the pool. The Hollow saw the chain coming, however, and leapt over it and back into the pool before Hattei could maneuver it to get a second shot.

"Damn!" Hattei exclaimed. Hito rose to his feet shakily- due to his having a sword arm instead of his normal right arm, it was a bit harder for him to maneuver in simple ways. Hattei looked down at the water again, but his eyes couldn't pick up any trace of the Hollow. "Those gills will mean it can breathe underwater- and it's probably a fast swimmer too, so be careful," Hattei yelled over to Hito. Hito nodded shakily.

'_I still can't believe this- How in the heck am I supposed to fight something like that?"'_ Hito pondered, running around on his side of the pool with his sword arm held towards the water, just in case the Hollow leapt out at any time.

It just so happened that "at any time" was very soon- before Hito had gone 10 steps, the Hollow erupted from the pool, splashing water everywhere, and charged, this time at Hattei. Hattei leapt backwards and avoided the bite, but the Hollow seemed to expect this, as it swept it's hand into the blue haired boy while he was still in midair. "HATTEI!" Hito exclaimed. Then, without even thinking, Hito did something he wouldn't be able to think as possible- he leapt across the pool. A 20 mt. radius was cleared without Hito even realizing it until he landed on the other side.

'_W-whoa! I just leapt across that huge po-"'_ Hito's thoughts were interrupted by a blinding pain. In his shock, the boy forgot to keep aware of his surroundings and had received a heavy blow from the Hollow as a result. He went barreling into Hattei, who had just begun to recover himself, and was knocked down again.

"Ugh! Idiot, get off!" Hattei shoved Hito away from himself and then got up with his weapon ready only to see the Hollow's legs disappear beneath the water again. Hito groaned and pulled himself up from the ground as well.

"Ow- What the heck?! Is that thing on steroids… Better question, am I?!" Hito asked. Hattei wiped his brow and looked over at Hito.

"What are you asking?"

"How come that thing's so powerful… And since when could I suddenly jump like a Shonen action hero?" Hito asked.

Hattei sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "You're kidding right? You should realize how much stronger Hollows are than normal humans from the whole incident inside the Aquarium- you really think Judges of Eternity would be unable to control their Shiki enough to match them?!"

"Hey, don't make fun of me! I'm still not even sure what Shiki is supposed to be, much less how to control it!" Hito proclaimed angrily. Hattei shrugged and holstered the dagger part of his chain (he had a sheath on his waist for the 1 ½ ft. dagger).

"Doesn't matter," he said, "that Hollow isn't coming up, it looks like. Judging by the way it was batting us around, it's probably waiting for us to go after it underwater- in its turf." Hattei deduced. Hito shook his head, mouthing wordlessly.

"Y-y-you've _got_ to be kidding me! How in the world are we supposed to fight that thing _underwater_?! We can barely keep up with it up here!"

"Well, we really don't have a choice…. Hm, it's been about an hour since we got to the Aquarium, and the Hollow was at about 60 Black Soul, so that means…. Hm, I'll be it's probably in the mid 90s with the black soul now… Damn, we won't make it otherwise…" Hattei muttered mysteriously. Hito's eye twitched in annoyance as Hattei paced back and forth while muttering these seemingly random thoughts.

"Oi! Keep me informed, will you?!" Hito yelled, grabbing Hattei's shoulder and turning him around. Hattei frowned.

"We don't have a lot of time before that Hollow Progresses," at Hito's blank look, Hattei added- "It'll become a force of nature when that happens."

"Oh…" Hito said, looking back towards the pool. '_That thing… Will get stronger?! Darn it, there's no way we can fight it underwater now, but if we wait, it'll come up stronger than now…"'_

"Ah, but Hito," Hattei started. Hito turned to Hattei, his musings paused by the boy's interjection. "I think I may have a plan to get it out of the water- but we don't have a lot of time," Hattei voiced.

"Okay, hit me with it!" Hito said, sounding braver than he felt.

Hattei looked at the water, then at Hito and began to explain…

'_I….I can feel pain… I can feel the pain everywhere…. But why is it… Wet?! ARGH! I HATE THE WATER!!"' _Black veins writhed through the body of the pale Hollow, making it, in turn, writhe in pain. The beast was still underwater, and it felt as though its very soul was being eaten away like it had eaten away so many others. The pain it felt was that of a being that didn't want to exist anymore, but had no choice. As though deemed by the Gods unfit for death. A being that was ready to give in, that had lost everything, but could not gain death's sweet embrace. Not that it hadn't tried to die.

Indeed, the Hollow's very soul screamed whenever it was close to death- not in pain, or in sadness, but in _joy_. Its body had slowly been plagued by the mysterious energy from deep within its soul. A deathly energy that it knew it couldn't handle. An energy from the depths of darkness. The dark energy, though, wouldn't kill it. It would, instead, give the Hollow an increase in strength, but for the steep price of slowly tearing down its very being, bringing it incredible pain no matter how many souls it consumed. The dark energy made it too strong to be dispatched. Even know, the foolish beings trying to defeat it would be destroyed, and he'd consume their souls. But it would be neither soothing nor filling. The pain would continue, until it completely broke it down. The Hollow knew that, when the dark energy became too much for its body, its own soul would no longer be capable of being saved.

'_I'll… I'll kill them! I'll kill them both! Then, the pain will die, I know it will!"' _the Hollow's unbroken thoughts were now as deeply black as the energy that was painfully tearing it apart. It was close to the darkness, and the darkness was telling it what to do. It would listen, and do as the darkness commanded.

Hito gulped and readied his sword arm. _'I can't _believe_ I'm doing this!"' _the red head thought. "Oh well, I guess if I die, at least I went out like a hero," Hito said aloud. He looked over the edge of the pool, wondering where the Hollow was now. Hattei said that it was stationary, which meant that the pain of Shiki overtaking its soul was too much for it to move before it "Progressed" and became stronger by 'learning' to manipulate Shiki as opposed to Reiki. Or something like that. _'Although that guy's steered me wrong before… I wonder if he'd actually let me die?!"'_ Hito gulped, then looked up at the sky. He took in the beauty of it- thinking it would be his last chance- and then turned back to the pool.

"Hito, I'm in position!" Hattei yelled from a bush. Hito sweat dropped.

'_He's really getting into it, to hide behind a bush_!"' Hito thought. Aloud, he said: "Alright, I guess I'm going in, then!" Hito said.

Their plan was simple, and, (hopefully) effective. Hito would dive into the water and make himself an obvious target. The Hollow, progressed or not, should smell Hito's soul a lot better when they were both in the same area, and go after him. Then it was a simple matter of getting out of the water fast enough to avoid being eaten and make sure the Hollow came out with him so he could get a face full of Hattei's sword. Hito steeled himself, and then took what could be considered a leap of faith, into the depths of the dark water.

The first thing Hito noticed was how much darker the water seemed from beneath its surface. On the surface he figured it was kind of dark, if he couldn't see the Hollow, but when he actually looked around, he realized it was more like a pure black than the dark blue he'd thought it was. As he pedaled his feet to keep himself from sinking too far, he looked around for signs of the Hollow. He got them only a second later.

"RRRRRRRR!" Hito's heart skipped a beat, as he heard the dark growl. He swiveled around immediately- hoping against hope it was something, _anything_ other than the Hollow. No such luck. The Hollow was swimming towards him, and, where before it was ugly, now it was just plain hideous. Its entire body was bleeding the black ooze that looked like blood (the same that was covering its gills earlier) and its fins were becoming ragged. This didn't do anything to help Hito's courage. Despite himself, his steeled resolve, and his newfound courage… Hito found himself frozen in terror again. The Hollow's charge wasn't slowed. It came directly up to Hito, opened its mouth, and began to close its jaws around the terrified high school Judge of Eternity…

Hattei blinked. He'd been waiting behind an unsuspecting bush for about 20 seconds when he felt it. The stirring of a great Shiki about to be released. '_No way! The Hollow must have progressed already!... But… Why is it so…Calm… Like realization?!"'_ Hattei wasn't sure if he wanted to find out the answer, but he knew that he had to. The likeliest case was that Hito was dead or near dead, and the Hollow's progression gave it a new sense of itself. In truth, the blue haired boy had only ever actually fought a single fully progressed Hollow, but he figured it was possible that a Hollow became more than just a lumbering beast when it progressed. As he rushed towards the pool, however, there was a huge splash of water, and the Hollow flew from the water and landed several feet away from him. Hattei slid to a stop, and turned around to see Hitonari Jirai grasping the edge of the pool and pulling himself out slowly with labored breathing.

_Approximately 10 seconds ago_

'_I've really done it this time, I've really managed to die!"' _Hito was so close. So close to his death as the beast's mouth opened before him. His entire life flashed before his eyes. And that's when his arm changed. Almost instinctively, he felt the sword wrapped around his right arm tear itself apart and seem to flip up and out into the umbrella-esque shield he'd used only a night before. _'DAD!"'_ Hito's mind was yelling as the teeth of the Hollow collided with his shield. He could feel it now. His Shiki. He didn't know how he knew that's what it was, but he did know that's what it was, and it was perfectly malleable. Well, not perfectly, but he got the feeling that he could, if he wanted, turn his arm back into a blade…

'_I can't die… Not yet… Dad'll be toast without me! He'll burn down the house!... But, more importantly… I wonder about this thing that's supposed to be the form of my Shiki…"'_ Hito's thoughts turned to mischief as his umbrella-shield folded back onto his arm. The Hollow was still shaking itself from the impact of hitting the shield, and didn't make too much movement away from Hito as Hito smirked and drew back his right arm across the left side of his body, then swung with all the force he could muster. _'Hattei will be really surprised!"'_

"How did you do that?!" Hattei asked in shock as Hito slowed his breathing and shook himself dry.

"It's a secret!" Hito teased. Hattei slammed an elbow into Hito's gut, and Hito was soon rolling around in pain. "Hey! Don't be jealous!" Hito said after recovering.

"LIKE I'D BE JEALOUS OF YOU!" Hattei exclaimed. Hito sniggered. "And just why are you laughing?!"

"Cause it's obvious you're _majorly_ jealous!" Hito retorted confidently petting his sword arm. "I know my sword's _way_ cooler looking than your…Whatever that is," Hito motioned to Hattei's chain dagger, "but you've just got to learn to accept that, Hattei!" Hito laughed after his boast, and Hattei grumbled darkly.

A roar snapped them back to reality. Hito turned around and saw the beast looming darkly over them. VERY darkly over them. The Hollows entire skin was now a dark black, it's mask was the only white part on it, and even that was tainted with black ooze. It's muscles bulged and its veins were visible through every limb.

"Dang, while we were talking, it Progressed!" Hattei gulped. Hito looked at the Hollow, then at his sword arm and back at Hattei.

"Hey… That thing's a dead person's soul, right?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah… Why?"

"We… Can't save it like we saved me, can we?"

"No… The Progressed Hollows lack a large part of their souls- Shiki is slowly eating away at the soul even now. But… If we can destroy the shell quickly enough and perform a "Judgement" on its soul… Well, it might be able to avoid Hell." Hattei explained, then, he added "and this time I mean the Hell that's really bad, like with the Devil and stuff" as though remembering Hito wouldn't know.

"Ah, I see. So a Hollow that progresses is on the pathway to Hell. Unless you can get it soon after the Progression. Hm, nice to know." Hito said solemnly. He was now petting his sword arm and looking steely at the Hollow, which returned its glance with a manic glint in its black eyes.

"Why are you asking such weird questions suddenly anyway?" Hattei queried.

"I realized down there," Hito began, pointing to the water with his left hand, "that I couldn't die because my Dad is still around, and I couldn't just give up on life. But, that Hollow probably never got the same chance as me… It probably ended up becoming such a dark creature because of it… It never got to see its family and friends anymore, and was alone. Alone and sad, and afraid. That fear is… The thing that feeds its darkness." Hito stated. The Hollow growled lowly as Hito spoke, walking slowly towards its prey. Hattei looked at Hito with wide eyes.

'_This guy… Having so much emotion suddenly… It's like he can understand the Hollow… I-I never even thought about feeling for the Hollow, it was just always my job to destroy them."'_ Hattei thought in awe of Hito.

"That fear," Hito continued. "Is the same as my fear… If I had become a Hollow, I would be in the same position. So… I'm going to destroy that Hollow's shell, and show it not to be afraid… Then I won't have to be afraid either- even if I die while doing this crazy job." Hito finished. He then looked at Hattei and blinked- in the blink of those eyes his previously cold and focused eyes changed to a more normal view.

"Heh! Sorry for getting all deep there! But I think you get my point! Let's finish this!" Hito declared, putting his right arm in front of him like holding a normal blade. Hattei blinked, then smiled warmly in return.

"You're… A really big idiot," Hattei stated simply. Hito sweatdropped. The Hollow, as though taking the cue of the change in atmosphere, charged at the two.

Hito and Hattei, like they had always worked together, engaged in perfect unison. The Hollow swung its right fist at Hito, who blocked with his sword arm, and then ran along the side of the Hollow's right arm, cutting it up with his blade arm. Black blood spilled form the wound as Hattei spun his chain around and sent it to wrap around the Hollow's left arm. The Hollow didn't seem to feel the pain of either Hito's slash, or Hattei's ensnaring of his arm, and instead only kicked Hito away with his right foot. Hito flew backwards, but managed to slide to a stop with minimal damage.

"I'm… Sorry but it'll be over soon!" Hito exclaimed, jumping up and pulling his right arm back. The Hollow roared and tried to bring its left arm up as Hito charged towards its mask, but Hattei held strong and kept the arm from moving. There was a sickening crunch, and spatter of blood as Hito stabbed cleanly into the head of the beast. This caused the beast real pain, and threw up its left arm, despite Hattei's enormous effort to keep it locked down, and slapped Hito away. Both boys again sprawled into each other, but this time, they both returned to their feet moments later, and watched as the Hollow writhed in pain, its mask bleeding black blood.

"ARGH!! WHY?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE!!" Hito and Hattei both watched as the beast murdered in a split voice- half of it sounded like the deep grumblings of a Hollow, while the other half was the voice of a child- probably a boy of about four. "I…I couldn't swim! Why dad?!" at the word dad, Hito bit his lip. The Hollow fell to its knees.

"It's… A kid!" Hattei declared.

"Yeah… His dad must have been unable to save him when he was drowning…" Hito said, though he knew that was probably not it. From the sound of things, his father completely left him to drown.

"Yeah…Maybe". Hattei added halfheartedly.

"I…I want to go HOME!!" The Hollow roared- half of its mask fell off when it shrieked the last word, and its voice returned to the fully gravelly voice of a Hollow. The face of a young boy was visible for a moment after half the mask was ripped off, but only for a moment as soon an inky black liquid spilled over and covered it. Hito growled, and then charged in at the same time that the Hollow charged at Hattei and him.

"I won't let it happen anymore," Hito yelled as he charged. He leapt into the air as the Hollow punched at him. The arm it punched with, however, was soon sliced off, as Hattei's dagger chain hit it. This deterred it only for a moment as it dodged Hito's first strike- a helmbreaker from his sword arm- and punched at him with its other arm. Hito brought up his sword arm and it changed with a swift glow into the shield form. The punch did little to the shield, and Hattei had retrieved his chain, and know wrapped it around the beast's left arm.

"You deserved to be saved, kid," Hattei uttered, bringing his chain back with incredible force and breaking the Hollow's left arm. Hito's arm folded back onto him as a sword arm, and he bent his knees, even as the Hollow opened its mouth and lunged at him like a shark, he leapt straight towards it.

"I won't let you feel this fear again!!" Hito exclaimed. He brought his right arm back as he was in the air directly before the Hollow, then jabbed it forward, and straight through the beast's skull. The beast's charge stopped immediately, and it seemed to dissolve as Hito dropped from the air. White light broke out over the area for an instant, and then Hito was standing over the body of a young boy- wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and half of his young face was covered with black ooze for a moment, but soon the ooze dispersed. Hito breathed heavily as he landed and then looked at the boy.

"W-what's going on?!" The child asked in fear. "Wh-what happened to mommy and daddy?!" he asked.

"Hey, buddy!" Hito greeted upon landed. The child looked fearfully at him for a moment, but then eased as Hito smiled brightly at him.

"A-are you a robot?!" the child inquired as it looked at Hito's sword arm. Hito looked at it, and then shook his head. "O-oh. Do you know where my daddy is… He was right…" the child looked around, and then seemed to realize something. "Oh… My daddy didn't come… did he?"

"No, kid. Sorry," Hattei interjected. Hito turned to him with a look that said "be gentle", but Hattei only walked up and pulled out a gavel from his robes.

"Hey, Hattei, what are you going to do?!"

"What does it look like? I'm going to pass Judgment-"

"Not yet! We have to at least explain what's going on!" Hito exclaimed. Hattei shook his head. The child backed up a little bit, but Hattei walked forward without missing a beat. Just as he was about to smash the gavel into the boy's head, Hito stepped in front of him. Hattei blinked, but Hito turned to talk to the boy again. He put his left hand on the child's shoulder and smiled soothingly again.

"Hey… You're going to go somewhere that everyone goes to soon enough, okay?" Hito asked. The boy blinked in confusion. Hattei looked up at the sky and bit his lip nervously.

"Hito, the demonic forces in hell are probably going to notice all the darker Shiki around here- they'll overlook us, but the kid will become theirs. We have to pass Judgment quickly."

Hito looked at Hattei, then at the sky. A dark circle was slowly forming and swirling over them. Hito gulped as well, then turned to the child again. "Look, I know you don't know me, but I just want you to know that… Your dad…" Hito hesitated. He wanted to leave the child one good memory either way it went, but was lying okay? He shook it off, and then returned to smiling. "I bet he really misses you," the child smiled, but before he could say anything, Hattei rushed over and lightly tapped his head with the gavel. The boy then blinked in confusion as his spiritual body was yanked from the world of the living.

"Wha- Oh, thanks, pretty lady, tell my dad I miss him too!!" were the boy's parting words. He disappeared in a flash of light, and along with him, the black circle that threatened overhead.

Hito and Hattei just stood there for a moment. The entire ordeal over, they were quite ready to return to the bus and get out of the museum. But before they moved, Hattei turned to Hito with raised eyebrows and said one word.

"Lady?"

Hito hit the bed hard. Tiredness was all that mattered right now. It didn't matter that he was called a woman not two hours ago, or that he had nearly been killed 6 times in 24 hours, it didn't matter that he and Hattei were harshly shouted at for making the bus late to leave. All that mattered was sleep. Now he just wanted to lay down on one of the beds in his room, and take a nice, long… The red haired boy sat bolt upright, and turned to the blue and black bed across from the one he was currently laying on.

"DAD!" he yelled. Two beds in one room wasn't a problem, but why would his father give him a second bed when his current one was just fine? A few seconds later he heard footsteps on the stairs, and then, the door opened and Hitonari Jirai was met with seeing his father. Hito's father had a tray of fried rice and a juice box, which he sat down on Hito's nightstand.

"Yo, what's up kiddo?"

"Yay! Food!" Hito exclaimed with zeal, then he regained composure and added, "Uh-um, I mean: How come I have two beds?!" Kazuya Jirai blinked, then turned to look at the black and blue sheeted bed. He then slapped his hand against his forehead and laughed loudly.

"Oh, sorry kiddo! I completely forgot, but I got a call earlier- from some foreign guy that said you'd signed up for some "Foreign Exchange" program or something. Seems there's a kid that'll be staying here for a while, so I got him a bed!" The older Jirai man said. Hito blinked, not remembering any such thing. As if on cue, Mr. Jirai added: "and next time, could you remind me about this kind of thing. Foreign exchange kids are normally a pain, so I'd be against it, but I guess you picked a pretty good candidate- he doesn't even sound foreign, as a matter of fact!" Kazuya said. Hito blinked in confusion, still not recalling anything….

Footsteps were heard again. Hito looked up at the doorway, waiting for whoever it was that could be coming through to show up. '_Meh, they probably won't be that bad, after spending the day with Hattei, I just wish I remembered who they were…" _Hito's thoughts trailed off and then the first part of his thought sunk in '_After Hattei…_'

"Hey, Hitonari-san!" Hattei, back in school clothes and with a wide smile Hito knew was fake, entered the room. "Looks like we'll be staying with each other for a while!" Hattei exclaimed with nauseating cheeriness.

'…_Lady Luck, you've never been so cruel!"'_

**Next time:** "I hate you Hattei! Well, I guess I don't _hate _you, but I would like it less you weren't every single place I was! Well, now that Hattei's going to be staying with me, things are getting really crazy! Hollows, Hollows, everywhere, and a cute girl too! Wait-WHAT?! She's a Shinigami?! And she's dangerous at that?! You've got to be kidding me! Such a cute girl is part of an Afterlife crime syndicate?! And now we have to capture her! Life is getting way too crazy for me! Next time on **Bleach: The Court of Eternity: **_**So THAT'S a Shinigami!**_ –For a dead girl, she's got really nice hair!"

AN: Whew, well, I cranked out three chapters to make up for being gone for so long. I know it's pretty annoying to find a story you like and then the author won't update for forever, so here's my gift to you guys that _are_ reading and enjoying! I'll try and not make chapter 7 last half a year... But no promises. As always, review!


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